


One of These Nights

by writerinthedark4



Category: Amar a Muerte (TV), Juliantina - Fandom
Genre: AU, F/F, Sweet/Hot, hungry babes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 14:22:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 28,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21037655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerinthedark4/pseuds/writerinthedark4
Summary: Juliana and Valentina meet one night.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello fellow amigos! 
> 
> As you probably know B was in Cancún and well, maybe that inspired me to write this One Shot AU inspired by Juliantina. And Bárbara.  
Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did writing it!
> 
> Please lemme know your thoughts!

Valentina was staring at her, sitting at the bar for probably over thirty minutes. She had already crossed the line of what was socially accepted without making her look like an obsessed person or a possible kidnapper, but she couldn't take her eyes off the brunette who was sitting at a table with three friends and who seemed to be having a great time.

She was alone, after a tiring day photographing models for the next issue of the magazine she worked for and decided to relax by having a drink in a bar, promising herself that it would be just that, drinks, after all, she was in Cancun just for work. She just didn't know she was going to meet the most beautiful woman in all of México in that same hotel and now she didn't know what to do.

She didn't have the strength nor courage to go and meet her but much less to take her eyes off her. So she stayed there, staring at her, living vicariously through her laugh. She blamed the few drinks she had had drank that had taken all of her power in her decision-making over herself.

"May I have one more please?" She finally turned to the front of the bar counter again, ordering another drink to the bartender, who was a very pretty girl, in English, as she no longer remembered a word of the few Spanish ones she had learned to survive on this trip.

"Hard night?" She heard the bartender ask as she refilled her glass.

"Hm?" Valentina looked up, confused, looking at the woman.

"I asked if you're having a hard night." The woman smiled at her and only then could Valentina understand that she was speaking in English with her.

"Oh, ahm, yes, hard night." She replied smiling bitterly, taking a sip of her drink. "But I'm the one to blame, so that's fine."

"Why?" She asked as she cleared the counter.

"Let's say I like to complicate my life sometimes," Valentina took another sip of her drink. "But today I swear, I had no intention."

"Intention of what?" 

Valentina took a moment to answer, thinking, and before she could answer her a person approached the bar counter and began talking to the bartender, interrupting her thoughts.

"Buenas noches, ¿puedo ver el menú de bebidas, por favor?" ("Good night, can I see the drinks menu, please?") She heard the woman next to her say in Spanish, asking for some drink, she thought and looked up to see who it was, almost falling back as she realized that the woman next to her was no one less than the woman she had been staring at for the last thirty minutes of her life.

"Hola!," she heard the woman say to her but Valentina was static seeing her so close. And she was even prettier if that was possible. "¿Estas bien?" She heard the woman talk to her again and remembered that she had to answer something.

"Oh, ahm, hi, can I buy you a drink?" She stuttered right away, staring at the black-haired woman, longing for an answer. But the only thing she got back was a confused expression, and just in time the bartender arrived again and they began to talk, both in Spanish.

The bartender left after, Valentina deduced, the black-haired woman had finished her order and watched her lean against the counter waiting for her to return. So Valentina decided to gather all the courage inside her, plus the help of the effect of alcohol on her system, and turned to face her again and asked, "I'm sorry, that was too fast, do you speak English?" but all she got back was, again, a confused expression from the woman.

"Perdon, no hablo inglés, no te entiendo." (I'm sorry, I don't speak English, I can't understand you.) The dark-haired woman said, which of course Valentina didn't understand much.

"Of course, fate would put me in the same room with the most beautiful woman in this bar but she doesn't speak English, thank you fucking much, universe," Valentina snorted under her breath, closing her eyes trying to think of something she could do to facilitate communication between her and the woman, who, when Valentina looked at again, had a smile on her face. Then Valentina remembered. "Oh, of course! I'm so dumb," She opened her purse and took out her phone, opening the translator app quickly, writing, "Hi! Can I buy you a shrink?" She put the Spanish translation and turned the phone over to the woman so she could read it too, but as soon as she opened her mouth to say something the bartender appeared again and handed over her drinks, causing the black-haired woman to stare at her and at the newly arrived drinks with an expression of not knowing what to do, Valentina guessed.

"Jesus, of course, you had ordered drinks for yourself, okay universe, you're really not helping me today." Valentina muttered annoyed and sipped her drink, feeling the cold drink burning the way down her throat, wondering about what the other woman would be thinking of her. That she was insane, probably. Or drunk, which she was a little.

"I think you spelled drinks wrong." Valentina heard the woman say and when she turned to face her, she could see a hint of a smile trying to escape her very nice shaped lips. "I think you meant drinks, not shrinks." The woman continued. "Unless you think I need a psychiatrist and want to buy me one?" She finished saying in English, but Valentina had no reaction. "Are you ok?" The woman asked after a while when Valentina had not said anything yet.

"Ahm, yea, I'm fine- you speak English?" She blurted.

"Aren't we talking?" The woman asked back, smiling at Valentina, who couldn't help but smile back and shake her head in denial, placing her hand on her forehead.

"But.. you said.. you spoke in Spanish and-"

"I was playing with you." The black-haired woman said smiling. "You should've seen your face." She smiled bigger and Valentina pushed her a little.

"I'm sure it was really funny, yeah." Valentina said grinning. They both stared at each other for a few seconds. "I'll ask again," Valentina took her cell phone back and corrected her question, turning it back to the woman who once again smiled, but this time she looked at her hands causing Valentina to do the same, realizing that she was already with two drinks in hands. "Fuck, I'm so stupid. Can I join you for your drink, then?"

"You're relentless, aren't you?" The woman asked amused. "And I'm kind of with my friends here so.." She said looking at the table where she was sitting at.

"It's only for a few minutes, I promise to let you go as soon as we're done." Valentina tried to level. She just needed a few minutes with this woman. "Just a drink?" She asked smiling, bending a little. "Por favor?" She said in Spanish, almost whispering. She was sure she'd try to learn the whole Spanish idiom if it would take the other woman to sit a little down with her. Valentina knew she was acting a little over the top, but the other woman was still there talking to her, so that must mean something.

The black-haired woman smiled and bit her bottom lip, looking down at the floor and shaking her head from side to side as if pondering her choices, until she lifted her head so that her gaze met Valentina's. She nodded slightly. "Okay," she said quietly, "I'll hand them these drinks and let you buy me one." She said smiling, making Valentina's smile match hers instantly.

"Ok, perfect, thanks." Valentina said excitedly. "What drink do you want?" She asked as the woman was heading toward the table where her friends were.

"Surprise me." She heard the black-headed woman say without even turning back and shook her head, smiling. Tonight might not end as bad as she thought.

__

"Soo.. can I know your name?" Valentina asked the woman, mixing her straw into her drink.

The two were seated in two chairs over the corner of the bar counter.

"This is such a good drink." The dark-haired woman responded by taking another sip of her drink and smiling when she saw the expression on the brunette's face. "It's Juliana." She raised her hand so Valentina could take it and greet her, which she did right away.

"Nice to meet you, Juliana." Valentina said her name trying to mimic the same Mexican accent she had heard, thinking she had done it right, but realizing she was wrong as she heard the woman laughing at her failed attempt to risk her Spanish accent.

If it were for Valentina, she'd do that accent wrong for another million times if it would make this woman always laugh that way.

"We can see you're not very good at Spanish," Juliana said and Valentina just shook her head, smiling at her as she drank her drink. "Where you are from?"

"New York." Valentina responded by turning to fully face her. "What about you? You don't have that much accent when you speak in English. Have you lived in the US?"

"Why do you think I lived in the US?" Juliana asked turning to face her, and now they were reactively close. So close that Valentina could smell the black-haired woman's perfume.

"You have an American accent. From the south." Valentina answered.

"Well, that must be because I'm from the south of the US." Valentina's eyes widened.

"What?"

Juliana laughed at her reaction. "I'm from Texas. My family is all Mexican, tho. I'm the only one really American."

"Oh, wow." Valentina didn't know what to say, in the end, she knew it was no big deal, there were thousands of Americans who spoke fluent Spanish, but knowing that this beautiful woman was born in the same country as her, made her happy. "You still live in Texas?"

"Oh no, I live in Washington now and-"

"Washington DC?" Valentina asked interrupting her. It was too much that they lived in the same country, now living so close was too much for her.

"Yea, Washington DC." Juliana smiled when she saw Valentina's reaction. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing." Valentina waved her hand at her and sat more straight in her chair. "Why are you here?"

"Job." Juliana imitated Valentina and also sat more straight in her chair. ''I am a fashion designer. I work for a magazine and we were in a town near here to take pictures of our new issue. We decided to spend the weekend here to relax a little and well... here I am.''

Ok, Valentina simply could not believe that apart from this beautiful woman be able to fully understand her idiom in this foreign country, she worked in the same area as her and they lived close to each other. A three-hour trip is a close trip, isn't it? It was too coincidental. Too good to be true. It had to have something wrong with her.

So she decided to be straightforward since she figured she didn't have much to lose.

"So, uh, why did you accept this drink?" Valentina asked and as soon as the words left her mouth she regretted it.

"I thought you asked me to?" Juliana asked back, looking slightly confused.

"No, I mean yes, I invited you. I just meant that-"

"My friends told me you were staring at me for minutes while I was with them." Juliana said taking another sip of her nearly empty drink and setting her glass on the table, looking at Valentina, having a good time seeing the brunette's startled expression. "You weren't being technically discreet." Juliana raised an eyebrow and smiled at Valentina, who could swear her heart stopped beating for two seconds.

"Well, you didn't help either so." Valentina said disconcerted, taking her glass and finishing her drink.

"So it's my fault?" Juliana asked frowning.

"Well, you know I'm interested in you," Valentina said staring at Juliana, who was staring back at her. "You're gay?" Valentina asked without thinking, watching Juliana smile and shake her head.

"No, I'm not."

"Bi?" Juliana shook her head. "Bi-curious?" She shook her head again.

Oh, there you are. Valentina knew it was too good to be true. The woman was completely straight, straight as a door, straight as an iron tube that couldn't be bent. But she saw the way Juliana looked at her these few minutes they were with each other. Ok, it was almost nothing, but she felt some tension between them, she wasn't crazy. It couldn't have been just the drink that was creating things in her head.

"What is a bi-curious?" Juliana asked after a few seconds in silence.

"It's a curious person, a person that is not sure if it's attracted to another same-sex person." Valentina replied staring at Juliana, bending a little, getting as close to her ear as she could and whispering, "If you want, I can be your little experiment tonight." She pulled back and smiled a little as Juliana swallowed hard at what she had said. "I wouldn't mind at all."

"¿Quieres más tragos, chicas?" ("You want more drinks, girls?") The bartender has returned and asked something in Spanish that Valentina obviously didn't understand.

"What?"

''Ahm si, por favor. Las mismas bebidas." (Ahm, yes, please. The same drinks.) Juliana said in Spanish and Valentina had no reaction but to be mesmerized to hear how her voice changed when speaking in another language. "¿Y tal vez por favor traigan algunos bocadillos? He estado bebiendo con el estómago vacío durante mucho tiempo y eso no es muy bueno.” (And maybe please bring us some snacks? I've been drinking with an empty stomach for too long and that's not very good.) She smiled at the bartender who smiled back at her.

What were they talking about? Why there was so much Spanish going on? Why didn't she pay any attention to the language when she was at school? Why were they smiling at each other like that?

"What?" Juliana asked as she turned to Valentina again.

"Nothing," the brunette replied. "I just think I should go back to study Spanish when I get back to the US."

Juliana smiled at Valentina. The black-haired woman put her elbow on the table and rested her head on her hand as she looked at the brunette. She was really beautiful. "What do you do at a bar alone in Cancun on a Friday night?" she asked. "A beautiful woman like you should hardly be able to be alone for long. Assuming you're single?"

Valentina laughed at the almost stated question. "Yeah, totally single." She answered. "And I decided to come alone just to relax, you know, have a few drinks. I didn't put much expectancy about tonight." She locked her eyes with the other woman's brown eyes. "Maybe I was unconsciously waiting for you." She put her hand on Juliana's thigh, which was covered by a thin layer of the black dress she wore, where the only thing that held it to the black-haired body was two thin straps, which Valentina followed the line of the fabric with her eyes until they meet again, in the middle of the woman's breasts, drawing a generous cleavage that didn't leave much to the imagination.

"My eyes are up here, hermosa." She heard the woman say and smiled, closing her eyes, to then open them and find her eyes staring back at her, making Valentina's stomach clench as she realized that what she saw back from them was pure desire.

"Sorry." She whispered softly, not so sorry.

"No you're not." Juliana whispered back.

"Aquí están, chicas." ("Here they are, chicas.") The bartender came back with two drinks and a plate of appetizers for both.

"Gracias," the two said together and smiled at each other shily as they realized.

They took their new drinks and sipped in synchrony.

"So, I take it you're gay?" Juliana asked after a quiet minute between them, silent but comfortable.

"Very much gay, yea." Juliana smiled at Valentina's answer.

"And you've never been with a woman?" Valentina's time to ask. Juliana just shook her head as she ate something from the plate. "Never kissed one?" Valentina asked again.

"No." Juliana replied, shaking her head slightly, looking at Valentina. "What?" she asked seeing Valentina smile.

"Nothing," the brunette replied, shifting in her chair to be closer to her and consequently leaving one of her legs in contact with the other.

"What?" Juliana asked laughing. "Tell me, what is the reason for the smile?"

"It's just... it must just suck to the women who've met you anywhere that you've never been with one." Valentina answered, bouncing a little her leg that was in contact with hers, slightly. "I hope I'm not one of them." she added, putting her hand back on Juliana's thigh, trying to make her intentions clear without wanting to say them out loud so she wouldn't scare the other woman, but also not wanting her to think this conversation could go any other way than this way.

"Oh," Juliana said smiling. "What makes you think you won't be one of them either?"

"I mean, you're still here." Valentina caressed her leg.

"You are very observant." Juliana said smiling.

"Well, I was already watching you from afar... it wouldn't be any different with you so close to me." Valentina responded by leaning over the table, staying even closer to Juliana. If she moved some more there would be no space between them. But she wasn't complaining. And apparently not even the woman in front of her.

"Juls," Valentina was startled and reached back when she heard someone talking to the woman, and realized he was one of the people sitting at the table with her. "We're going to return to our rooms. Are you coming?" Valentina widened her eyes and looked at Juliana, who was looking at her and then looked at Juliana's friend, who was in front of the black-haired woman holding her shoulder. "It's late and tomorrow we want to enjoy the day." He said. "Hello!" He held out his hand so Valentina could take it and greet him.

"Hi!" Valentina answered. "Please don't go yet, please don't go yet." Valentina thought so that her night would not end as fast as it began.

"Ahm, not now, Pedro," Valentina heard the woman say and breathed a sigh of relief, trying not to draw as much attention and not to seem as desperate externally as she was internally. "I'll spend some time talking to.."

"Valentina, nice to meet you." Valentina reached out to the man, who greeted her as he watched Juliana turn red when she realized she still didn't know the other woman's name.

"I'll go later, Pe." She smiled at her friend. "I'll stay with Valentina a little longer," Juliana said smiling at her after saying her name, which Valentina decided at that moment that no one had ever said her name sound so sexy. Or everything Juliana did was apparently sexy to Valentina. One thing she was sure, she didn't want this to be the last time she heard it.

Juliana's friend smiled at both of them and said okay, leaning over and giving her a kiss on the cheek, leaving just after saying good night to both of them.

"I'm so sorry!" Juliana said as soon as he left. "I had completely forgotten that I hadn't asked your name yet." Valentina smiled when she realized she was really worried that this was a flawed act.

"Don't worry, I'll think of something for you to make it up to me." She said winking an eye trying to make it flirtatious but only managed to make Juliana laugh quietly. "What?" She asked narrowing her eyes in amusement.

"I think I can make it up to you by teaching you how to blink with one eye only." Juliana said smiling, making Valentina laugh.

"Yeah, I'm not very good at this." Valentina said, realizing that Juliana was leaning toward her, her unbearably good scent impossible to miss now.

"It's not that hard, here." She said almost on top of her, placing one hand on one of Valentina's thighs so as not to fall and the other on one of Valentina's eyes, touching delicately. "Now you close that uncovered eye." She said quietly, Valentina feeling her breath on top of her mouth, using all her strength to keep looking only at Juliana's eyes, not her mouth.

But she no longer knew what was worse. She could focus on Juliana's eyes without getting lost in those chocolate eyes that were so dark and inviting, impossible not to get lost at, Valentina imagined, or feel Juliana's breath so close to her lips.

"I don't think this is the best way to teach me how to blink with one eye." Valentina managed to say, her voice almost failing, just as her body was failing her, and she could no longer contain herself, so she lowered her gaze to Juliana's mouth, licking her lips in an unthinking motion.

Juliana bit her lower lip and uncovered Valentina's other eye, placing both hands now on the brunette's thighs as she stared at her. The two now feeling the heavy air almost palpable between them, with a mutual desire that they could no longer hide.

"I know I may be sounding a little quick, a little desperate right now but I guess I can't do it anymore," Valentina said licking her lips while looking at Juliana's, then up her gaze to see that the other woman was staring back at her with an intensity that Valentina felt she had the power to dematerialize her right there. She felt that her heart was almost out of her chest. "Please, can I kiss you." She whispered, leaning a little closer to the black-haired woman, but not moving forward, hoping she would take the first step so she was sure of what she was doing.

And God knows how much Valentina wanted her to be sure of what she was doing because she knew she couldn't stand any rejection that came from her, not right now.

But all those doubts were thrown out the window when Valentina felt warm, soft lips join hers in a simple kiss, but big enough to wake up the rest of her body that wasn't alerted before.

She put both hands on Juliana's neck and pulled her closer, parting her lips a little so that the other woman could better fit hers. And boy oh boy did they fit.

They kept kissing like that, without hurry, for a few seconds, until Valentina felt Juliana get up from her chair and slowly spread her legs with her hips, without stopping the kiss, and fitting between them, placing a hand on her hip and the other on her neck, deepening the kiss.

Valentina didn't miss the opportunity and kissed Juliana harder, touching their lips together and eliciting a little moan from the brown-eyed woman that she could feel vibrating throughout her entire body until it reached the most sensitive part between her thighs, making it hard to ignore how much she wanted Juliana.

They were already lost in the kiss, Valentina's hands were hugging Juliana around the waist bringing their bodies impossibly closer. Juliana's hands grabbed her face holding her in place, until they both heard a throat clearing behind them and parted, breathing hard as they stared at the bartender that was behind them, with a sly smile touching her lips.

"Sorry to interrupt, but do you want another drink or would you rather it to be taken to your room?" She spoke in English now.

She glanced back at Juliana as if expecting an answer from her. She didn't know what the black-haired woman wanted. She knew what she wanted. And nothing she wanted to do involved new drinks, just her bed.

"Ahm, can you bring two more and close the bill please." Valentina heard Juliana respond in English and she felt her heart heavy, watching the bartender collect the glasses, nodding and going for new drinks.

Juliana sat in her seat, taking a deep breath, running her hands through her hair, and turned to Valentina with a small smile. "So," she began.

"So.." Valentina repeated what she had said, also with a smile on her face.

Juliana didn't know what to say. She still felt her heart pounding in her chest and she was pretty sure it was the beginning of a heart attack. Or something very similar. She was also sure she couldn't resist Valentina any more if she kept looking at her like that. But she no longer knew if she really wanted to resist the woman with the bluest eyes she'd ever seen.

"So that happened." Juliana spoke embarrassed and turning a little red, making Valentina find it lovely.

"Yeah," Valentina replied. "Thank God that happened, I think I would explode if you didn't kiss me." She said no longer thinking about containing what she was feeling there for the woman.

She wasn't falling for her, of course not, she couldn't be, she had seen the woman the first time over a little hour ago. But she couldn't hide the size of the attraction she felt for her. And yes, she was attracted to several women, but Juliana had almost a magnet.

That was it.

Valentina was magnetized by her.

"Are you always that dramatic?" Juliana asked smiling, taking Valentina's hand in hers and playing with her fingers.

"Usually, yes." Valentina responded by looking at her fingers together.

"Here they are, ladies." The bartender returned with her drinks. "And here is your account." She was going to give the bill to Juliana but before she could get it, Valentina went faster and took the paper, putting it in her purse.

"You can put it in my room's bill, it's 512." Valentina answered and the bartender nodded but stopped midway when Juliana cut her off.

"Hey, no, I want to pay it too, I drank a lot if you don't remember." She answered.

"Yes, but I invited you to drink," Valentina reminded, "and there's no problem, my office will pay for this, not me." She said stroking Juliana's hand, which raised an eyebrow and said that it was ok.

Valentina sipped her drink to cool her already hot body and realized Juliana was staring at her. "Like what you see?" Valentina asked flirtatiously.

"A little too much." Valentina heard Juliana respond and turn a little red.

"You're lovely," Valentina leaned over and pecked her lips. "Is this okay?" She asked still with their lips touching, feeling how she smiled against her mouth.

"Yeah, apart from thinking that we just met and the only thing I think of doing is taking you to my room and just letting you out in the morning." Two can play this game, Juliana thought. "And the fact that I had never kissed a woman, let alone do everything else."

Valentina turned away, looking at her with amusement. "Well, we can go to my room if it makes you feel better." She ran her hand over Juliana's jaw, which Valentina was sure had been drawn by hand. "As for never having kissed a woman... you would surely pass this test unnoticed."

"That's good to know." Juliana responded by licking her lips looking at Valentina's. "I never did it." She said.

"Did what?" Valentina asked in a low voice.

"One night stands." She answered a little embarrassed.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with that. If there is consent from both parts." Valentina said and moved back a little, not wanting to suffocate the woman. She'd be lying if she said she didn't want to have Juliana in every way possible tonight. She didn't know what it was, but since she saw Juliana sitting at the table, she couldn't get the picture of her naked in her bed out of her head.

But she didn't want to sound like a beast, she didn't want to force her on anything or give the impression that she was forcing her to do something with her. She would be more than happy if they stood there at the bar, talking, perhaps kissing. But she wasn't hypocritical. She wanted Juliana to herself.

At least for that night.

She looked at Juliana and it seemed like the woman was having an argument with herself inside her head. Juliana took her glass and sipped, and before she could say anything Valentina interrupted her.

"We don't have to do anything tonight." Valentina said and Juliana stared at her on the spot.

"You don't want to?" Juliana asked her.

"I-I," Valentina stammered, smiling after a few seconds. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to." She finally said. "But again, I don't want to make you do anything."

"You're not." Juliana answered staring at her. "I want it too." She said a little later, making Valentina's heart race. "I'm just, you know, drinking a little courage."

Valentina snorted, smiling. "If you're taking a little courage that means you don't want it that much in the first place, but for real." She put her hand on Juliana's leg, stroking it. "I'm fine being here with you just talking."

"You are?" Juliana asked and Valentina just nodded. Frowning when she saw Juliana lean over her, putting one of her hands over her chest, feeling her heart denounce her. "Then why is your heart beating so hard? I can literally hear him sitting in my chair."

"Have you seen yourself in the mirror?" Valentina asked hoarsely.

"Have you seen _yourself_ in the mirror? You're beautiful Valentina, absolutely beautiful. You could have any woman in this room, gay or not gay, ones who didn't need to drink to have the courage to take you to their bedroom." Valentina stiffened in her chair, feeling uncomfortable hearing those words coming out of Juliana's mouth. "Oh no, I didn't mean I'm only drinking to take enough courage to go to your room because you're gay or a woman." Juliana tried to fix it by noticing the brunette's discomfort.

"Well, it did sound like that." She answered a little hurt.

Juliana then suddenly rose from her chair and took Valentina's face in her hands, kissing her with intensity and propriety. "It's not because of your sexuality," Juliana said with her voice low as she broke the kiss, facing Valentina. "I'm just not very good with sex on the first date."

"So this is a first date?" Valentina asked raising an eyebrow, flirting.

Juliana smiled at her and kissed her again, softer this time. "I don't know. I don't know about anything." She sat back in her chair. "I just know I want to keep kissing you until I can't take it anymore."

Valentina smiled at that. "That's great because I want it too." She got up, finished her drink, and took Juliana's hand. "Finish drinking, let's go for a walk."

Juliana nodded, finished her drink, and stood up, standing next to Valentina. "You are taller." She stated. "I like it."

"You are shorter." Valentina said smiling at her. "I like it." She lightly squeezed Juliana's hand, who was smiling back at her. "Shall we?"

Juliana nodded her head.

__

"I don't know if I could live a life without siblings," Valentina said as they walked outside the hotel.

It was a quiet, windy night. There was no one walking around them, Valentina thought there was no one walking around anywhere anymore at that time, which made her more relaxed. She wished she could kiss Juliana whenever she wanted without worrying if there were people watching. Not that she cared, after all, she had been dealing with them for a while. But the other woman didn't, and she didn't want to make her uncomfortable. Not now that she seemed so much more relaxed.

"Well, you say that because you grew up with them, so you can't possibly know what if would feel like if you didn't have them." Juliana responded by giving Valentina a shove with her shoulder, which she smiled in agreement.

"You're right." She said.

They walked hand in hand, slowly and aimlessly around the hotel, which, thanks to the universe, had an area large enough that they could walk without having to go round and round in the same place.

"Shall we sit down? These heels are killing me." Juliana asked and Valentina nodded. They sat on a bench, glued to each other, next to a fountain. "This hotel is a bit too much, isn't it?" Juliana asked laughing.

"A little," Valentina laughed along. "Aren't you used to use them, tho?" She asked when she saw Juliana taking off her heels and putting her feet on the floor.

"Maybe not as much as I probably should," Juliana looked up and smiled at Valentina. "I'm a designer, but I prefer a good old shoe or boot without high heels too big. It's more comfortable." She said, lying on the bench. "And this stereotype that designers only wear heels is already an old thing, don't you think?" She asked jokingly.

Valentina laughed. "You're right. I'm sorry." She leaned against the bench too. "When did you find out you wanted to be a stylist?"

"I don't know.. since I was little." Juliana replied, crossing her legs in a movement Valentina couldn't take her eyes off, following every detail. "I always liked to design clothes for my dolls and my grandmother sewed them for me. When I was old enough to learn, she taught me and since then I sewed the clothes alone. Then I grew up and I think I liked it a lot enough so yea." Juliana finished saying and Valentina smiled as she imagined a tiny Juliana with a sewing machine in front of her, sewing clothes for her dolls.

"How about you? How did you find out you wanted to be a photographer?" Juliana asked back.

"Ahm.. my mother taught me when I was little." Valentina answered, taking Juliana's hand in hers and playing with her fingers, mimicking the movement the woman had made minutes before when they were at the bar. "She loved to take pictures and I was always around. Being the youngest I spent a lot of time at home while my brothers were in school and doing their extra-curricular activities."

"It should be nice to have time for just the two of you." Juliana smiled at her, and Valentina tried to match her smile with hers.

"Yeah, it was." Valentina stared at their clasped hands.

"Doesn't she take pictures anymore?" Juliana asked.

"Oh no, no more." Valentina looked up to be level with hers. "She died when I was a kid. There's only me now carrying the love for photography." She gave Juliana a small smile.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Juliana caressed Valentina's face, who closed her eyes at the warm touch of her hand, shivering a little.

"Nah, it's ok." Valentina shook the thought out of her mind. "It's been almost 18 years, I'm used to it." She smiled at Juliana, who smiled back.

"Ok then." She shook Valentina's hand lightly.

"Are you cold?" Valentina asked as she realized that Juliana's body had goosebumps.

"A little," Juliana answered quietly, smiling.

"Let's go inside." Valentina said getting up and pulling Juliana.

They both entered the hotel's covered area, an area that was a little darker than the others. "Wait, that's not the right way," Valentina said guiding Juliana to the other side but felt a slight tug from the woman.

"No, it's that way." Juliana said, now guiding them.

"But it's too dark here-"

"I know," Juliana said interrupting Valentina and cornering her against a wall, taking her mouth with hers and kissing her, hugging Valentina around the waist and leaving her with no other option than to press her hands against Juliana's neck, bringing them closer and deepening the kiss.

Being kissed by Juliana like that, the two of them in the dark with their bodies so closed and her own up against a wall, was making the brunette breathless and with a growing desire of having her way with Juliana right there right now, not mattering if anyone would see them. Every part of her body now was very awake, in alert, any part of it that was in contact with Juliana's. And she wanted more.

In one swift movement she shifted their positions and now Juliana was against the wall. Valentina disconnected their bodies for a few seconds, watching Juliana's chest rise and fall each time she breathed deep, their breasts touching every time. She needed to feel Juliana's whole body beneath her touch, under her lips. So it didn't take long before she started kissing Juliana's neck with hunger, licking and biting it, making her moan softly beneath her, placing her hands under the blouse Valentina was using, scratching her skin with her nails so _so_ softly it was making Valetina squirm.

"Jesus Christ," Valentina said under her breath.

"Wrong person," Juliana said hoarsely, feeling Valentina smile as she lowered her mouth, planting small kisses until she reached her shoulder, then lower to the center of her chest, kissing between her breasts and rising up again, stroking her arm with one hand until she reached the thin right strap of her dress. Valentina played with it for a few seconds, as if trying to tell Juliana silently what she had in mind all while rising her kisses until she reached her mouth and kissed it with slow intensity while lowering the strap of the dress.

With the strap of the garment almost at the elbow of the black-haired woman, Valentina disconnected their mouths and stared at Juliana, who still had her eyes closed. She slowly lowered her hand on Juliana's arm until she reached her now exposed breast, running her finger over Juliana's nipple that was already stiff, either by the cold wind or by her body reacting to Valentina's touches.

Valentina stared at Juliana with her mouth half-open, trying to steady her breathing as she was completely mesmerized by the woman, seeing how she and her body reacted to her touches on her bare boob. Then in a moment of courage, she lowered her head and took Juliana's breast with her lips, making Juliana moan rather loudly as she felt Valentina's hot mouth on her cold body, revealing its soft touch. It didn't take long for her not to be able to contain the low moans that came later as she felt the brunette playing with her nipple in a tangle of teeth and tongue and lips.

Valentina then lowered her both hands and lifted Juliana's dress a little, putting one leg between her thighs, pressing Juliana's center and feeling the heat it emitted through the fabric of her pants. Valentina moaned deep and bit Juliana's nipple a little harder, making the black-haired woman to get startled and push her away.

"Wait, wait," Juliana stopped breathlessly, holding Valentina with one arm away while lifting her strap, trying to catch her breath.

Valentina was staring at her not knowing what to say, she thought she was going slowly since the other woman hadn't said anything and now she was scared, thinking that she had crossed her limits.

Juliana, realizing her expression, pulled her back and took her lips with hers, giving it a simple kiss. "No, it's not what you're thinking, I'm fine, it was fine." She stopped and looked at her. "It's just too good, I'm feeling you all over the place and it's too much. I just needed to breathe a little." She said, almost out of it.

"If you want we can stop." Valentina nodded while saying, relieved Juliana didn't think she went too far. They were in public, she had to remember that.

"No," Juliana shook her head. "Let's go to your room."

Valentina's eyes widened. "No, we don't need-"

"I wanna go." Juliana interrupted her, looking her in the eye, a smiling growing in her now pinky lips as noticing Valentina nodding slightly.

"Ok, let's go." Valentina said and took Juliana hand in hers, guiding her until her room.

__

"Do you want something to drink?"

Valentina asked as soon as she entered her hotel room, after holding the door so Juliana could enter first and then getting in herself, locking the door later.

She watched for a moment as Juliana paced around her suite, seeing the mess on the floor.

"I'm sorry, I'm not very organized." Valentina said embarrassed, a sheepish smile escaping her lips as seeing Juliana turning to her wearing another one in her face.

"It's okay, I'm not much better than this." Juliana said.

"Ok, uhm, so.. you want something to drink?" She asked again, realizing how nervous she was. Why the hell was she so nervous now? She had slept with countless women and none had made her so nervous.

"Water?" Juliana said staring at her and Valentina nodded, facing her back then going to her little fridge, grabbing two bottles.

"Here," She handed Juliana one bottle and opened hers, drinking its contents.

"Your room is much bigger than mine, and mine is two-bedded." Juliana said after drinking half the water from her bottle, placing the object on the night-table. "Your magazine must pay you well." She turned to Valentina, smiling.

"It pays ok." Valentina shrugged, going over to her and placing her bottle next to hers, stopping in front of the dark-haired woman. "You alright?" She asked, her voice low and hoarse.

"Uhum," Juliana nodded and smiled, moving closer to Valentina until she could join her lips in a soft, slow kiss, holding her face with both hands, caressing Valentina's cheek with her thumbs. "Your skin is so soft... how do you do it?"

Valentina smiled, her lips still together, as she was raising her hands to caress Juliana's face as well. "Have you ever felt _yours_?" She traced her fingers gently, lowering her hands until she reached her neck, leaning her head slowly while kissing all the way down to Juliana's neck where she paid silent attention, breathing Juliana in. "And you smell so good too," Valentina ran her nose over Juliana's neck. "How do you do it?" She disconnected her lips, lifting her head keeping their eyes the same level.

Juliana just smiled and shrugged saying, "I don't know, I buy a lot of nice, expensive products." She grinned and Valentina couldn't hold it anymore, taking her by the waist, guiding her to her bed, kissing her with property, and as if she wasn't devouring Juliana just a few moments ago. She pushed her carefully into her messy bed, falling on top of her right after, taking her arms and placing them over her tangled messed hair and pressing them there with the same amount of pressure she was pressing her body against the mattress.

"Please, let me just-" Juliana asked, freeing her hands as they were going under Valentina's shirt again, just like when they were downstairs, but now going straight to her bra, opening it and bringing her hands and cold fingers to the front of Valentina's body, who stood up a little so that Juliana could have room to do what Valentina thought she was wanting to, which was to slide her hands up to her breasts. And it was exactly that what Juliana wanted to do, Valentina realized, as she saw the black-haired woman holding her breath as she felt how erect were her nipples.

"You feel so, so good." Juliana said as she took Valentina's lips between hers again and right then Valentina decided that that was it, they still had too many clothes between them.

In an abrupt motion Valentina stood up getting out of the bed and slid her shirt over her head, throwing it on the floor, followed by her already opened bra, feeling Juliana'a fingers on her hands as she was trying to unzip her pants.

"Let me do it please," Juliana hoarsely asked and Valentina nodded, watching her sit on the edge of the mattress and run the tip of her fingers over her belly. Absorbed by how Valentina contracted her abdomen as she was touching her made her and in a moment of courage, She brought her mouth to one of Valentina's breasts and licked it, eliciting the loudest moan Valentina let out inadvertently, as she threw her head back.

Juliana couldn't believe she was making this beautiful woman feel as good as she seemed to be feeling, and that encouraged her to suck and bite and lick her breast more intensely as she massaged the other one with her hand, gripping Valentina by the waist with her other arm trying to hold her in place.

After a while of just feeling Juliana everywhere, Valentina could no longer not touch the other woman so she pushed her a little just to lift her off the bed, leaning down just a little until she could reach the edge of Juliana's dress and pulling it up slowly, sliding her fingers between her legs, smiling as watched Juliana holding her breath as her fingers slid over to the middle of her legs, where Valentina had to gather all her strength not to tear that dress there and now after feeling how wet Juliana already was.

She passed her dress over her head and stepped back to absorb the beauty of the half-naked woman in front of her.

Juliana felt vulnerable feeling Valentina's gaze over her, she couldn't say if the room was too warm or if her skin was burning with desire. To say that she had never felt this way about a woman was common knowledge, but had she ever felt that to any man? She would think about that later.

The only thing she could think of about at the moment was getting Valentina's long legs off of those pants and that's exactly what she did. She unzipped the garment and crouched to the floor as she pulled it down along with her panties> Her fingers were trembling a little at her sudden boldness, she noticed as she was rising again, kissing Valentina's body all the way up.

When she got to her feet again, she watched as Valentina breathed heavily with her lips parted. She stared at the other woman, not seeing a lot of the blue she knew it was there, feeling her stomach squirm as she saw the desire in her eyes. It didn't take much for the two to advance on each other, joining their lips in a kiss that was no longer sweet or calm. Valentina pulled Juliana's panties down leaving both of them completely naked and picked her up in her lap, with Juliana wrapping her legs around the taller one and Valentina climbing on the bed with her knees, lowering Juliana with a slight carelessness and lying on top of her, both moaning when their naked bodies finally collided.

They both stopped what they were doing and looked at each other, both breathing heavily, half-open lips. Juliana ran her fingers over Valentina's face, brushing the strands of hair that were falling down to hers like a brownish curtain.

"I'm sorry," Valentina chuckled. "Disadvantages of having sex with a woman, too much hair sometimes."

"I'm just seeing advantages so far." Juliana said smiling and Valentina bent down to join their mouths one more time in a fast-paced kiss, pressing their bodies together again and moving them together.

Valentina propped into her arms to fit better between Juliana's legs, joining their most intimate parts, revealing how much it felt good. "Fuck, you feel so good," She whispered on Juliana's lips, feeling her smile against hers and start to move under her.

Out of the blue, Juliana gripped her ass tightly and Valentina intensified the friction between them, breaking the kiss so she could watch Juliana as she increased the pressure and speed of her movements over her. "Look at me," She whispered and Juliana obeyed on the spot, biting her lips as Valentina just kept the same constant pace above her, their eyes locked.

"Val-," Juliana whined, closing her eyes again and biting her lips harder. "Juliana," Valentina said as she leaned in and freed Juliana's lips with her own, licking it later, "Please, look at me, I want to see you come, look at me, please," Valentina knew she was begging but she didn't care. She just wanted to keep their now synchronized movements while staring down at brown eyes, feeling lost at the way Juliana could stare back at her. As Juliana's breaths got heavier and her moans louder, Valentina knew she knew she was close just as much as she was. Since their second kiss, Valentina was on the verge and it wouldn't take much longer to her and now Juliana to reach their orgasms together. With a few last thrusts, Valentina saw Juliana shutting her eyes as she jerked under her, groaning loud and shamelessly, digging her fingers inside Valentina's messed hair and pushing her hip against the brunette's to make even more pressure. And that was enough for Valentina to reach her own orgasm and collapse on top of Juliana. Both women breathing hard, Valentina feeling the shock of waves run through her body while she hid her head in Juliana's neck.

But Valentina wanted more. After a few seconds, she disconnected their bodies and went to the end of the bed as she kissed Juliana's sweaty and still trembling body and didn't hesitate as she saw Juliana's glowing center, licking it from its entrance and reaching the dark-haired woman sensitive knob. Juliana moaned in delight and held Valentina's head with both hands, encouraging the taller woman to keep doing what she was doing with her tongue, opening her legs wider for better access.

Juliana was panting, almost blinded by the pleasure she was experiencing. She considered herself lucky, she had dated men who had sexually satisfied her, she never imagined or thought that sex could be more than what she had ever experienced until tonight. Until Valentina. And she's so glad she met her. It was a good thing she changed her mind about having sex with someone the first night they met.

If all the one night stands sex was the same, she would never want to date again.

And if everyone had Valentina's tongue and ability, she would never complain about anything ever again. She could already feel the waves of pleasure forming inside her, about to explode into another violent orgasm. Two in less than five minutes. She could get used to that.

And so it was. As soon as she felt Valentina thrust her tongue inside her, within seconds she couldn't take it any longer and burst into another orgasm that was taking her to a higher and higher place as she didn't feel Valentina coming to a stop.

"Stop, stop, stop, please, you're gonna kill me-" She begged in a hoarse voice, pulling Valentina's mouth from her, "come up here," she pulled Valentina by the head and they joined their bodies again, Juliana kissing her hard not caring if it was hurting her or not.

"Fuck," Juliana finally said, releasing Valentina so they could breathe a little, both panting, both sweating, both beaming when they realized what just had happened. "You're.. Jesus Christ." Juliana couldn't finish the sentence, she was too busy trying to control her breathing.

"No," Valentina said laying beside her, "try again."

Juliana laughed and they both fell in silent for a while, both looking at the ceiling, trying to calm their breathing and their heartbeat that was still pounding too fast.

"You alright?" Valentina asked Juliana eventually, both in the same position, their breathing calmer.

"Yeah," Juliana said with her eyes closed, smiling. "I'm feeling pretty fucking great." She laughed and Valentina followed her right after and so they stayed like that for a few more seconds, laughing at what had just passed between them, until Juliana stopped.

She propped her head on her hand and stood sideways to Valentina, staring at her. Valentina was still staring at the ceiling, just enjoying the moment they just shared.

"I want to make you feel good too." Juliana said, tracing Valentina's naked stomach, making her turn and stare back at her.

"You don't have to." 

''But I want to." Juliana said and Valentina didn't know what to say back. There was nothing else in the world she wanted more than to feel Juliana touching her as intimately as possible, but she knew this was Juliana's first experience. She didn't want her to feel obliged to do anything. "I want to, Valentina," Juliana said again and before Valentina could say anything contrary, she stepped on top of her, making her close her eyes instantly at feeling how good their bodies were together like that. "I just need you to guide me." Juliana kissed Valentina's neck and she shivered at how soft Juliana's lips felt against her tender skin. "I just need you to tell me if I'm doing right, or if you want it in some other way, or faster" Juliana whispered in Valentina's ear, taking her lobe in her mouth, biting it as she lowered her hand to the south of the taller's body.

Valentina couldn't do anything else but nod, unable to get any meaningful words out of her mouth. Juliana laughed at the effect she realized she had on her and lowered her hand faster, reaching between the brunette's legs who shuddered as she felt Juliana's cold fingers in contrast to her skin, that she felt as it was burning.

Juliana moved a little from Valentina's body so that her weight wasn't completely on it and she could have a better angle so her arm wouldn't get tired too quickly.

She ran her index finger through Valentina's center and caught her breath when she felt how wet Valentina was.

Valentina had her eyes closed, trying to feel every part of her body that was in contact with Juliana's and feeling in anticipation the pleasure she would feel when touched by the other woman. At the feel of Juliana's finger playing with her entrance, she lifted her waist in an uncontrolled reaction and opened her eyes to see Juliana smiling down at her as she realized how ready she was for her. "This is your fault." She explained quietly, causing Juliana to roll her eyes and stare at her again, a smile on her face.

"Apparently so," Juliana grinned and bent to take Valentina's lips in hers as she began to play with her clit, making Valentina involuntarily raise her waist a little again for more friction. "Should I do to you what I do to myself?" Juliana asked in a low voice, her breathing controlled as if she was concentrated on her task.

"Yes," Valentina replied with her lips still on Juliana's. "Please, Juls," She begged and Juliana smiled at the nickname, moving her fingers faster and with a little more pressure, which made Valentina groan. Juliana bent again to take her lips on hers, trying to muffle the sound. "Juls, I really need you inside me," Valentina said against Juliana's lips, trying to keep her voice normal, but it just came out as another moan mixed with words, enough for Juliana to understand the message as right after she inserted two fingers inside Valentina, who arched her back with the sudden contact and let out a moan escape louder than she intended to, making Juliana wonder if she had done something wrong.

"Did I hurt you?" Juliana asked with a worried expression that soon disappeared when Valentina shook her head.

"No, I'm just too turned on, so please, be faster, Juls," It was the only thing Valentina could verbalize and was soon answered by Juliana, who wanted nothing more than to satisfy everything Valentina asked her to.

Valentina didn't last long, between Juliana's thrusts inside her and the kisses she gave her in a failed attempt to lower her moans. She came hard on Juliana's hand and the dark-haired thought that the feel of Valentina's warm walls closing around her fingers while she was coming her was something she'd never forget.

She took her fingers out of Valentina and climbed back on top of her, kissing her with passion, trying to pierce everything she was feeling that night with that kiss.

After a few minutes with Juliana all over her body kissing like there's no tomorrow, their bodies so intertwined as they were one, the two of them released each other to breathe and calm down their heated bodies a little. And then they fell silent, in a comfortable one.

It was a relaxed silence, a necessary silence, a silence for their heads to come back to normal and a moment they could think about what to do next, until Juliana's phone started ringing and took both of them out of the little bubble they'd created since they'd entered Valentina's room.

Juliana got off Valentina and went looking for her bag with her phone inside it, picking it up and answering the call.

Valentina watched her sit on the edge of the bed and speak in Spanish with someone. Valentina obviously didn't understand anything so she just listened and watched.

Juliana was truly one of the most beautiful women she'd ever seen, and those few hours they spent together would become moments she certainly wouldn't want to forget.

Juliana ended the call and turned back to look at Valentina, beaming when she realized that Valentina already had her eyes glued to her. "I need to go now," Juliana said and Valentina pouted.

"But so soon?" She asked sitting on the bed.

"Yes, Pedro called me to remind me of our plans for tomorrow and I really need to go out now and have a good night of sleep. If I can have one at all, now." Juliana made a sad face that Valentina was sure matched her own.

"Well, ok then." Valentina said sadly. "Can I have your number?" she asked hopefully. That was not what she wanted. She didn't want to have any kind of connection with Juliana, she knew that although they both lived in the same state, that didn't mean they could always see each other. The sex was amazing, but sometimes that was all.

And apparently Juliana was in agreement.

"Please don't misunderstand me," She sat straight. "What we had and did here today, I.. I never did or had that with anyone. Ever." She started and then she stood up, finding her panties on the floor and putting it on. "But I don't think it would be healthy or it would work if we switched our numbers. What we had here today was perfect, and that's the memory I want to take with me." She put on her dress and stared at Valentina, who was absorbing everything she had heard.

Deep down she agreed with everything Juliana had told her. And if the roles were reversed, she was sure she would be in Juliana's shoes saying all that, but she wasn't in Juliana's shoes. She was on her own. And hearing that was like being punched on her stomach.

"Yeah, sure. You're right." Valentina responded by trying to sound as natural as possible. "I don't, ahm, yes. What we had was great, let's make this our last memory." She smiled and Juliana smiled back, going around the bed and sitting next to Valentina.

"Thanks for not giving up on me today." She said and leaned in, joining her lips once again in an unhurried, warm, delicate kiss. "Good night Valentina." She said and got up taking her shoes on the floor and her purse, walking toward the door to unlock it and open it, but not before giving Valentina a wink and then closing it.

__

Valentina was late. But that's not news. She rushed down the streets after leaving her hotel room with her cell phone clamped to her ear as she dribbled cars in the street looking for an open coffee shop.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry I'm coming soon." She hung up the phone. "For fuckings fuck sake." she said as a bicycle almost ran over her and then she laughed to herself, thinking that that moment looked like a mix of The Devil Wears Prada with 50 Shades of Gray.

The only differences being that her boss was really pissed at her. That she was madly in need of a coffee to wake up since she had missed the hotel breakfast and of course she was a lesbian.

Waiting for the traffic light to close, she saw an open café across the street, and thanked the universe for being in the way of her work.

She walked into the cafe mentally thanking the environment for being warm, as the streets of Washington were cold, something she was supposed to get used to living in NY, but unfortunately she hated the cold, and spent 6 months a year complaining about it. Almost everyday.

She went to the line that was relatively large, but she had no idea if it had another cafe nearby and she wasn't going out in the cold again to look for another one. And since she was already late, being a little later wainting in the a line for a very needed coffee seemed reasonable to her.

Valentina was lost listening to the audios of her work group when she felt a shy touch on her shoulder that made her turn and nearly drop the phone when she saw who it was.

"Hi," Juliana was in front of Valentina, greeting her. Valentina had no reaction but to face the lower one.

She would be lying to herself if she said she had no hope of meeting the black-haired woman while in town, and had even tried to find her on social networks, but of the two one, or she was a terrible stalker or Juliana didn't use any kind of social network. She had already given up hope of perhaps unintentionally bumping into her in the streets, but she had been in town for a week and nothing had happened yet so she really thought that meeting with the woman in Cancun had been magical and should just stay there.

Glad she was wrong.

"Valentina, are you alright?" Juliana asked and Valentina remembered that she needed to function like a normal person.

She shook her head trying to establish some kind of balance and said, "Juls, oh my God, I can't believe it's you!" She wrapped Juliana in a hug that was soon reciprocated by the other.

"What are you doing here in Washington?" Juliana asked smiling.

"Work," Valentina said matching the smile. "I figured that maybe I could find you but, wow, now I see that really meeting you like this.. I wasn't ready." they smiled at each other until they got interrupted by Valentina's phone ringing. "I'm sorry, one second," she picked up the phone, "Hello?"

Juliana watched her speak on her cell phone with a smile on her face that she didn't think she could pull off for a long time.

Juliana was not a woman to regret doing anything. She always thought that all the choices she made in her life, whether good or bad, took her where she is today and therefore made her who she is. But if there was one thing she regretted and thought about most of the time, it was not giving Valentina her phone number when she asked.

That was her stupidest moment, and she is a woman of many stupid moments.

"Sorry, I'm back. It was my boss, reminding me that I'm too late but I promised I would bring him a coffee and I think he softened a little." Valentina smiled and Juliana realized how much she missed seeing her smile.

It was true, and pathetic, they had spent less than five hours together. It was not possible that a person could have such a long-term effect in such a short period of time. But that was Valentina for Juliana.

"Well, I don't want to slow you down anymore," Juliana said reaching to the side while Valentina had finally arrived at the counter and ordered two cappuccinos for the trip. "I'm very happy to have found you again." Juliana said as she and Valentina came to the side to wait for Valentina's request to be ready. "I did something very stupid."

Valentina felt her chest heave as she heard Juliana say that. Yes, she knew it was pathetic that Juliana had so much power over her, they had spent less than five hours together, apart from the half hours Valentina had spent staring at her. It was not possible that a person could have such a long-term effect in such a short period of time. But that was Juliana for Valentina. So all she didn't want to hear, much less after spending the last two months thinking about the night they shared together in her hotel bed, was that Juliana regretted that night.

So to say that she was surprised to hear Juliana's next words, was new.

"I was so stupid that I didn't accept giving you my phone number. I swear to you, I've spent the last few months trying to find you online but out of the two one, or you don't use any social networks or I'm a terrible stalker." Juliana said smiling and Valentina smiled with her. "So, ahm, if it's not too late.. could I have your number now?" She asked anxiously, and Valentina could have sworn her heart would come out of her mouth.

"Valentina Carvajal!" Valentina opened her mouth to answer her when she heard her name being shouted, indicating that her request was ready. "One second," she said to Juliana and went to the counter to pick up her order and returned to the black-haired woman with the phone in her hands. "Here," she handed the phone to Juliana, "put your number, please." She said as Juliana dialed her number on her cell phone with a smile on her face. "Make sure it's the right one." She whispered when Juliana finished, lifting her gaze to level with Valentina's.

"It's the right one." Juliana said smiling at Valentina.

"Ok," Valentina said.

"OK." Juliana answered. "Make sure you'll call me." she said and Valentina's smile widened.

"Make sure you'll answer." Valentina answered back.

"I will." Juliana answered.

Valentina was about to say something else when she heard Juliana's name being called from a table, and she saw two other people sitting, apparently they were her friends, and were waiting for her to return to the table.

"Ok, I'm letting you go, for now." Juliana said.

"Yeah, I'm late too. Very late." Valentina said back. "Bye Juliana."

"Bye Valentina." They both smiled at each other and Valentina leaned over, kissing Juliana's cheek in the corner of her lips.

"See you soon." Valentina smiled and headed for the door, leaving a silly-faced Juliana heading for her friends' table.

Seconds after sitting Juliana felt her phone ringing and when she picked it up, she realized it was an unregistered number. "Hello?"

"Hi, just making sure you wrote down the right number." Juliana heard Valentina laugh and smiled at the phone, shaking her head in amusement. "I had forgotten how beautiful your smile is." She heard Valentina say on the other line and looked up trying to find the woman inside the cafe, "look outside." she heard Valentina say and looked outside to the large window and immediately seeing Valentina outside, smiling, looking at her. "Are you free tonight? Want to have dinner with me?"

"Of course I want." Juliana smiled looking at Valentina through the window, who was smiling back at her.

"Perfect. I'll send you details by message. Bye Juls." Valentina said and hung up, turning to continue her day with a smile on her face, bigger than it could handle.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. Hi. Surprise.
> 
> I couldn't get this fic out of my head so since I don't have anything else to do but work and go to college and write Privacies I thought I could make this One Shot into a fic. So here's your 2 chapter.
> 
> I have no idea when the other one is coming, but it is coming. And about Privacies I haven't started it yet bc I was writing this one, but I'll be updating Privacies soon enough.
> 
> here's the links of my other little jobs:
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/19403254/  
https://archiveofourown.org/works/19776730  
https://archiveofourown.org/works/19471027
> 
> please leave your thoughts and feed my thirsty bi ass
> 
> and I'm sorry I know you'll find a lot of tiny erros but this chapter has 17k words and I'm too lazy to proof read everything one more time.

"Valentina, can you please pay attention to what we're talking about?" Cristina, one of Valentina's co-workers and close friends caught her attention for the third time. "What are you doing looking at your phone all the time?"

"Waiting for the love of her life to respond," Samara, Valentina's best friend, answered sarcastically.

Valentina looked up and stared at them, narrowing her eyes. "I wasn't talking to anyone, Sama, and I'm looking at my phone all the time, Cris, because I'm waiting for a response from Pablo, who's supposed to let me know today if the photos I took for an earlier shoot had been approved. Satisfied?" Valentina finished glaring at both of them.

It wasn't a lie what she'd said. Well, not a complete lie, it was half true.

She was waiting for a confirmation from her boss about the photos _and_ was waiting for Juliana to answer her about when her trip to New York would be. She was going to stay at Valentina's apartment with her for a week after being invited by the blue-eyed woman. She would be going to the city that never sleeps to work and Valentina would never let her stay in one of those dirty NY hotels. The city is too dangerous and Valentina is too of a lady and too of a good friend to let Juliana be alone at the mercy of any unforeseen events.

But that, her friends didn't need to know.

"I doubt, I'd bet one hundred dollars that you're talking to the mysterious brunette from Cancun." Sami said as she sipped her drink. "She was the only thing you could talk about for a whole month. Nonstop. And now that she's coming-"

"I bitterly regret having said that to you." Valentina said almost whispering but enough so that her friends could hear. "-I'm sure." Valentina heard her friend Cristina saying something. "What?" She asked, confused.

"I was saying that I doubt you'll be going home with any woman from this bar today. Probably won't even kiss one. Since you slept with this Juliana you hardly ever date."

"And is that a problem?" She asked her. "And I've seen a lot of women after my trip to Cancun."

"How much is a lot for you, Val?" This time it was Samara who asked.

"I don't know guys, I don't write down the names of all the women I sleep with, and what's the matter with you two today anyway? Have you become my personal inspector of who I sleep or fail to sleep with tonight?" Valentina got a little mad. All this interrogation out of place didn't even make sense and the alcohol in her system no longer helped her to think more clearly and calmly.

"No, Vale babe, calm down, you don't have to stress," Cristiana said, pulling her friend to kiss her on the cheek while laughing. "It's just that you used to cherish enjoying your youth so much, meeting new women, all kinds of female anatomies and curves." Valentina smiled at that. "It's just weird that you're so.. quiet. I don't know."

"Maybe I'm calming down more, you know, the settling down moment that happens for everyone."

"Well, I hope this moment doesn't come for me anytime soon." Sama said, finishing her drink and handing Cristina the empty glass. "Your turn to fill it." Valentina finished drinking the liquid in her glass as well and handed it to her friend, who snorted and got up from her seat to head for the bar.

"Ok, Val, don't turn now," Sami said looking at Valentina and behind her shoulder, "but there's an incredibly beautiful woman who hasn't taken her eyes off you for about five minutes. And I think she's coming here. Get out of this drought." Sami got up from the chair and Valentina looked confused at her, "I'll help Cris with our drinks, I just remembered that I want a different one now." And she left without Valentina being able to stop her, but not before realizing that there was a tall blond woman coming in her direction.

Valentina turned forward again and squinted. It was true that since her trip to Cancun she had not been with as many women as before the trip.

Not that she slept with countless women all the time, but every week she went out and every week she met someone new and spent good quality time with them, not necessarily taking them to her bed. After leaving a relationship of almost 4 years the last thing Valentina wanted right now was to enter another one.

So she just enjoyed her youth. She went to parties, met women who were interesting to her, and enjoyed as much as she could. Without anyone getting hurt. With both sides knowing it would probably just be a one night stand.

She just wished it had worked with the Mexican she had met almost six months ago. But then the last time she had seen her four months ago they'd shared an eventive night together when she had gone to Washington DC for work. And now they were going to see each other again. But now she was staying at her apartment.

"Hi!" Valentina lifted her head when she heard someone calling her and saw the blonde smiling at her.

"Hi!" She grinned back.

"Ahm, I noticed your friends have abandoned you." She said tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "And I decided to take the chance and come and ask you to dance."

"Ahm.."

"Please. Just one dance, I promise not to ask for anything else later." The blonde said getting closer to her, with her hands together and teeth smile.

Valentina smiled back and lifted her index finger pointing up. "Only one." The blondie's smile grew bigger, nodding, and reaching for Valentina to take her hand so she could push her to the dance floor.

And they danced one, two, three songs. On the fourth song, Sama and Cris came back from whatever they were and joined the two, dancing for another couple of songs more, until Valentina felt thirsty and went to the bar to buy some water, not realizing that she was being followed by the blonde who also said she was thirst.

"Two drinks of water from the big bottle, please," Valentina shouted so that the bartender could hear her over all the noise, and after paying for the water she turned around, lying with her back on the counter, being trapped immediately by the blonde's arms holding her. Her body in the middle of her arms.

"Are you having fun?" The blonde asked really close to Valentina's ear, who shuddered at the warm breath she felt so close to her face.

Valentina smiled and nodded looking her in the eye, which she was returned with a smile as big as she could give her and then she felt her personal space being invaded by the blonde again, but this time she gave her a kiss on her neck that made Valentina's whole body shiver with the contact. "Me too," she heard the woman say next to her ear again and then, seconds later, Valentina felt her pulsing point being invaded by the other woman's mouth, giving her big, wet kisses down her throat, Valentina automatically closing her eyes and bending her head so she could give the woman more room to explore.

It didn't take long for Valentina to turn so she could face the woman and invade her mouth with hers, kissing her wantingly, her hands on the woman's neck pulling her closer, her tongue lingering and searching for every space inside the blondie's mouth, all that while being reciprocated.

Valentina doesn't know how long she had been kissing her, she only knows she needs to stop a little to breathe and to drink a little of the water that she just remembered she had bought, because her mouth was as dry as before when she was on the dance floor.

She disconnected their mouths and turned around to take their bottles, hanging one for the women to take and then opening hers, without disconnecting their glances.

\--

"Oh, fuck, you're good," The woman said taking a deep breath, her chest rising and falling in her attempt to catch up some air as Valentina lies beside her, also trying to normalize her breathing. "That was.. amazing." The woman said laughing and turning to Valentina, taking her lips in hers, kissing her.

"Yes, it was," Valentina said smiling lazily as the woman stopped the kiss and started kissing her neck.

"Wanna go for round two?"

"Yea, sure, I just need to go to the bathroom before.. but wait, what's your name again?" Valentina asked sitting up, taking the bottle of water that was on the table beside her bed.

"Julia, but I hadn't told you before," Valentina heard the woman speak and spat out the water she was drinking immediately, managing not to choke on it.

Julia approached her and tried to help her catch her breath, asking her if she was okay, while Valentina nodded and drank more water to ease the pain in her throat from coughing.

"Yes, I'm fine, it was nothing-"

"Knowing my name made you that excited?" The woman spoke flirtatiously, reaching into Valentina's neck and bringing her close, but Valentina moved out from her in disconcertment.

"I, ahm- Julia, I'm sorry but I just remembered something and I'm really sorry but I have to go now." Valentina said getting off her bed, searching for her clothes while putting her panties on.

"But so soon? And in the middle of the night" Julia asked, skipping out of bed and pulling Valentina by her arm to approach her again. "I thought we were having a good night? Don't you want to enjoy the rest of it?" She leaned over and kissed Valentina's mouth, but this time the blue-eyed woman didn't reciprocate and carefully pushed her away.

"I'm sorry Julia, you're amazing and really beautiful and what we just did was really amazing but I should get going. I'm sorry." She said turning away from the woman as she spoke, walking backward. "But it was nice meeting you!" She gave the woman one last smile and turned to leave her room.

\--

"What were the odds?" Valentina huffed, throwing herself on the couch of her apartment, putting her arms over her eyes.

"Stop being dramatic, Valentina, the girl just had a similar name." Sama said sitting on the couch taking Valentina's legs and then placing them over hers.

"Who do I want to fool.." Valentina said quietly, almost to herself. "I'm crazy about Juliana. And the only thing my mind can focus is about when she'll finally be here and I can finally touch her as much as I dream of doing. Which is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous because we just had sex twice."

"You met twice, you mean," Cristina said, sitting in an armchair next to the sofa, saying the word met with emphasis. "You had sex countless times."

"That's so not the point." Valentina said, trying to hide a smile as she remembered her last night with Juliana. More than four months ago.

\------

_"Do you have some kind of wall fetish?" Juliana asked, laughing as Valentina took her shirt off in a hurry and messy way, kissing her again after throwing the garment on the floor._

_"I have fetishes of trapping you between my body and walls," Valentina said, disconnecting her mouth with Juliana's and kissing down her neck. "Or I don't have the patience to wait until we reach something more comfortable." She whispered in Juliana's ear making the dark-haired woman sigh as she lifted her in place, placing her hands under Juliana's thighs to hold her closer to her body while the other pinned her legs around the taller one._

_Valentina pulled Juliana back against the wall, taking off one hand under her thigh and guiding it to Juliana's center, "hold on to me, don't let me go," Valentina said whispering over Juliana's lips, feeling her nodding and kissing her at the same time. She pushed her panties away and ran two fingers through the privacy of the younger one, feeling her wetness and hearing her moaning on her mouth just as her fingers came into contact with her most sensitive part. "I don't know if I should thank you or curse you for wearing this skirt tonight."_

_"It was a gift to you," Juliana said smiling, her lips still brushing with Valentina's as she let out little sighs each time the taller one brushed her fingers with greater pressure at her center. "You just have to say thanks." Juliana finished that sentence with a stifled moan as she felt Valentina penetrate her with one finger in a slowness that was killing her. "Valentina, please,"_

_"What do you want?" She whispered in Juliana's ear, biting her lobe and licking it right away._

_"Deeper," Juliana said hoarsely. "and faster."_

_"Thanks." Valentina answered with a sly smile on her face and gave Juliana what she had asked for so much._

\--

Valentina was staring at her phone with the screen open on the conversation tab with Juliana. She didn't know whether or not to send something to the other woman, but once she saw that she was online and felt her heart race, she didn't think twice before sending a message.

"Any news?" She sent and waited anxiously for her to respond, instantly brightening when she saw the three dots indicating she was writing something and started moving.

"Yes! I'll be arriving in a week but there had been some changes," Juliana replied and Valentina bit her lower lip, nervous about what changes that might be. "I will be accompanied by a work friend, I will not be going alone anymore, and we will be staying in a hotel."

Valentina sighed in frustration at that. She had already thought about every single thing she'd be doing with Juliana. And to Juliana. How she would enjoy this week with Juliana living in her house.

"Can I call you?" It was the next message Juliana sent to Valentina, who did not hesitate to say yes, running a hand through her hair to straighten it and then rolling her eyes as she remembered that Juliana would not see her face. Just hear her voice. But that was enough to make Valentina nervous.

Pathetic.

"Hi Juls!" Valentina said, trying not to look so excited when answering the call.

"Hola, Val! How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine, just getting some rest at home."

"You are at home?" Juliana asked and Valentina smiled when she heard her laugh on the other line.

"Yes, I am, I don't understand your laugh Juliana Valdés," Valentina said playfully.

"Today is Friday, I thought your Fridays would go by with you as far from home as possible. Or as close to your bed. Accompanied."

"Well, who told you I'm not accompanied?" Valentina said, still joking.

"Oh," She heard Juliana say on the other end of the line and regretted the joke."If you want I can call you another ti-"

"Oh no no, I'm kidding, I'm really, really alone," Valentina interrupted Juliana to dispel the misunderstanding. "I was just kidding," she said with a forced laugh. "But nevermind, who's coming with you now?" She tried to change the subject.

"Ahm, yes, nevermind, and I'm going with Diego, he's a co-worker," Juliana commented. ''You'll like him, he's so funny.''

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure I will," Valentina said hoping to sound convincing. "Will it be his first time in New York?" She asked praying that it wouldn't be so he could leave them both alone so she could show Juliana around.

"Yes, it will be his first time and he's really excited." Juliana stated, "He was actually hoping that I'd show him a little of the city but I've warned him that my knowledge of the city is a touristic one."

"I can show you two around if you want to," Valentina said those words and immediately regretted saying them. The last thing she wanted to do was share Juliana with some unknown man. "I'll take you to know the best spots." But she couldn't stop pretending, it seemed.

"You know I've been to New York several times, right?" Juliana asked in a funny tone. "It's really sweet of you, but I can show him around too."

"Yes, as a tourist, you will now see it as a true New Yorker." Valentina said proudly and they continued talking on the phone for several more minutes.

-

"Juls!" Valentina almost screams excitedly to see Juliana arriving at the airport and goes to her, trying not to run so as not to look so desperate as she feels inside.

Juliana meets her and as soon as they get in front of each other they waste no time and hug simultaneously, with Valentina automatically sinking her head into the girl's neck and smelling what she swore she would have already forgotten by now after so many weeks without seeing her and without the prospects of actually seeing her ever again. But there they were, the sweet smell of Juliana's skin remained so alive in her mind. Just strong as the first night they shared together.

"I'm so happy to finally see you!" Juliana said as they broke away their hug and took Valentina's face in her hands. "And you're still as beautiful as before." She smiled reflecting the same smile that is on the tallest face, lingering their gazes for a few more seconds. "Di, come here!" Juliana said stepping away from Valentina and reaching for a tall man to take her and stand in front of her. "Val, this is Diego, Di, this is Valentina."

"Hi Valentina! It's nice to finally meet the person Juliana talks about so much." The man held out his hand so that Valentina could take and greet him, and in front of her, Valentina could see him better. Tall, dark-skinned like Juliana, with light brown eyes and a passionate smile. Valentina's stomach tied a knot.

"Hi Diego, nice to meet you too." Valentina gave him her biggest and most fake smile. "How was your flight?" Valentina let go of his hand and turned to Juliana.

"Oh it was ok, just one hour flight, I didn't even realize we were here."

"Yes, she drooled all over my shoulder." Diego said jokingly and earned a slap from Juliana.

"I did not!" Juliana complained smiling.

"Yes, you did and I can prove it. So stop hitting me!" Diego joked again and Juliana looked at him squirting her eyes.

"And do you guys already know where you're staying?" Valentina asked, wanting to stop that conversation.

"Yes, we do," Juliana smiled looking back at her, "It's this one here," She handed Valentina a piece of paper.

"Ah, I know where it is," She looked up at Juliana and smiled at her. "Shall we?" The two friends nodded and the three of them headed toward the landing to pick up their other bags and then head for Valentina's car.

"Wow, this suitcase is heavy as fuck." Valentina said, taking a suitcase out of her trunk once they were in front of their hotel. "Is that yours, Juls? Did you bring all your drawings with you?" She said with a smile making Juliana laugh in denial.

"No, this is Di's, he's a photographer." Valentina raised her eyebrows at that. "Shouldn't you recognize these bags? All his photographic equipment is in it."

"Oh no, my equipment is lighter.. and I have less stuff to carry around." She gave a shy smile and handed the luggage to Juliana's friend. "We're done, aren't we? I'll help you get things up."

"Oh, there's no need, Valentina, we don't want to waste more of your time, I'm sure you have more important things to do, we can share the weight or just ask someone from the staff to help us, right Juli? Isn't that equity talk you all claim to want?" He asked the shorter girl smiling and she nodded.

"Yes, Val, you've done too much already for us today."

"But you'll go to different rooms, I can at least help you until-"

"No, we're going to the same room, we're sharing one." Diego said cutting Valentina off, and then she realized what he'd said. The two of them would be sharing the same room. The same bathroom. Would they share the same bed? Were the smiles exchanged between them all the time indicating more than just friendship? But Juliana would tell her if she was seeing someone, right? "

"Spending containment," Juliana said laughing and Valentina came back to reality. "But really, you've done too much Vale, don't worry. And if we need help we'll ask someone that works here."

Valentina nodded slowly, "Well, uhm," she cleared her throat, "do you want to do something tonight?"

"Juli and I have some things to do about work in advance and then we'll wander around somewhere to eat something, don't worry." Diego spoke again and Valentina was starting to get annoyed at how much he spoke. She looked at Juliana expecting her to say something but she had her cell phone in her hands, didn't even seem to have heard what he had said or what she had asked.

"Okay, right. See you tomorrow then?" Valentina asked, looking at Juliana anxiously.

"Yes, we will," Juliana smiled at her. "We can have lunch together, what do you think?"

Valentina grinned back and nodded. "I'm down for that." They held each other's gaze for a few seconds until they were interrupted by Diego's voice.

"Great! Where are we going tomorrow?" Diego asked excitedly, making Valentina snort inside and prepared a timely response so that he could understand that the request didn't extend to him.

"We'll sort out everything tomorrow, right, Val?" Juliana said looking at Valentina, who couldn't have any reaction other than nodding in silence, hoping that she didn't answer right away trying to mislead him..

"Tomorrow we'll talk then. I'll see you Juls," Valentina said, approaching Juliana and kissing her cheek. "We'll talk later," she said quietly so that only Juliana could hear her and walked out of her private space, turning around to get to the driver's side. "See you, Diego, have a good stay, both of you." She said getting into the car.

\--

"She's sharing a room with a man?" Samara asked Valentina, trying to confirm what she had just heard. Seeing her friend nod, she continued the quiz. "And are they together or something?"

"I don't know Sama," Valentina said straightening on the couch and looking at her friend. "I think she would tell me if she was seeing someone. It's not like she or I talked about the possibility of anything else happening between us during these months, but I invited her to stay at my place for a week, she knows that I live alone.. well, with you but alone altogether. That's kind of suggestive, isn't it?" Valentina asked, frustrated. "What is this woman doing to me?" Valentina asked, grunting, tapping her head on her hands.

"You're falling in-," Samira tried to say patting Valentina's shoulder, but was soon interrupted by the other women with her hand over her mouth, stopping her from finishing saying what she wanted. And Valentina from hearing those words.

"Don't you fucking dare! Are you crazy? We saw each other literally only two times with a very big time gap between each date, we talked a few times over the phone, there's no way I'm feeling more than just lust for her, there just isn't." Valentina denied.

"So why are you so frustrated that she's not here with you and sharing a suite with a man, that, according to your own words, is as beautiful as she is? Or why is it that you don't go out as much as before or why are you always thinking about her or-"

"Samara, stop it." Valentina interrupted her. "What I feel for Juliana is just... I don't know, a weird connection, lust, very good chemistry between us and we are very compatible in bed. That's it. What I feel for her is physical attraction."

"A very strong physical attraction," Samara said and was answered with a pillow in her face. "Hey! Be careful!"

"Then stop talking nonsense," Valentina said, getting up from the couch. "And go change because today is Friday and we are going out. I need to drink." She said entering the room, not seeing that her best friend was laughing, shaking her head in denial.

Valentina was frustrated. She had been waiting for a message from Juliana all morning to find out about their lunch and where it would be, but she only received a new message notification from the black-haired woman almost late afternoon, apologizing for not being able to get in contact with her earlier because she and Diego had gone out last night to drink and ended up losing track of how much they had drunk and she had only woken up after lunch but had yet to prepare things for a meeting she was going to have on Sunday morning. And then added that Diego had booked two reservations for them to watch a play that night. Just great.

Valentina was too angry to answer her, choosing not to do it, laying on her bed thinking about the fact that the true problem was that she wasn't angry with Juliana. Well, she was, but not entirely angry with her, she was frustrated with herself for being carried away by the feelings Juliana aroused in her that she hadn't felt since she had broken up with her ex-girlfriend a year ago. And she wasn't the type to not want to get carried away by these feelings. She liked to feel in love. But she had just discovered how good it was to be single and was enjoying it. She didn't want to miss it now, not so soon. Not for a person who didn't even live in the same city as her.

Not for a person who didn't show that maybe she was feeling what she might be starting to feel. And again, Valentina didn't blame anyone but herself for being so stupid.

\--

"Shit, this place is too crowded today." Valentina complained upon entering the bar that she always goes with her friends and is usually always full, but today was more than usual.

"Nah, stop complaining and we'll soon meet Cris who, by the way, has been here for over an hour waiting for you to finish getting ready," Samara snorted and took Valentina by the hand pulling her through the crowd until she reached the table that her friends and other acquaintances were already seated. "Hi ladies!" Samara greeted the girls who were sitting at the table with Valentina right behind her greeting them as well.

The rest of the night went smoothly, with the women mingling between the dance floor and the table to kill their thirst while talking about their day to day lives.

Taking a moment to go to the bathroom, Valentina picked up her cell phone and contemplated whether or not to text Juliana asking if she wanted to join her and her friends. Although she said she and Diego would be going out tonight, by this time they should be back at the hotel.. and asking would not kill anyone, and tomorrow was Saturday, she would have plenty of time to rest.

Lost watching her cell phone screen and the incessant sound of loud music making her get lost in her own thoughts, she still doubts whether or not to contact Juliana, Valentina didn't even notice the arrival of Cris and Cris's friend Erica, that Valentina had seen a few other times.

"Hey Vale, how are you?" Cris asked her as she arrived and lied next to Valentina at the bathroom door.

"Hm?" Valentina asked, raising her head trying to assimilate what Cris had said. "Oh yes, I'm fine. I was just... seeing some things on my phone." she didn't exactly lie.

"And why this frowning forehead?" Cris asked, squeezing the middle of her friend's eyebrows.

"The bright glow of my phone was bothering me," Valentina lied again. "And you? Already tired of the party?" She asked, smiling at both women.

"Of course not! The party will only start to get good now," Erica smiled at Valentina. "I'm going to the bathroom," the woman said and passed by Valentina, touching her thigh, causing Valentina to raise her eyebrows in surprise and look at Cris, who smiled, seeing the whole situation.

"Did you see that or..?"

"Yep," Cris laughed now. "Either you're playing blind or that Texan there really cast a spell on you because, Vale? Erica has been trying to get your attention since you got to the table. Didn't you notice?"

Valentina laughed in disbelief, "Hitting on me? I didn't realize anything Cris, like, nothing. Are you sure?"

"As sure as to when she came to me asking if you were seeing someone and I said no," Cris said looking at her friend watching her face change for a millisecond. "Because you're not seeing anyone, right?"

"Right, of course, I'm not seeing anyone." _I wish_, Valentina thought and at the same time, the person that she didn't want to think about crossed her mind. "And your friend, what is she like?"

Cris looks at Valentina as if she didn't understand what her friend meant by that. "And since when does it matter to you, Vale?" She laughed, "She just wants to be taken to her bed and then it's over, she won't want anything more than that either, you don't need to know each other's childhood stories." Valentina rolled her eyes at that and at the same time the bathroom door opened and Erica came out with a huge smile on her face.

"Shall we?" She looked at her two friends and when they both nodded, with Cristina taking them both by the arm, pulling them back to the dance floor.

It wasn't long before Valentina and Erica were almost mounted on top of each other, Erica's back to the corner of the club wall, her hands inside Valentina's shirt making small circles on her skin as the chestnut kissed her without haste.

"Can we go to your apartment?" Erica asked breaking the kiss and leaving little kisses on Valentina's neck, who didn't hear what she'd said and just asked a "what?" causing the other woman to laugh and kiss up the lobe of Valentina's ear, whispering in her ear. "I asked if you want us to come to your house. Or mine, I'm not picky."

Valentina shivered at the feel of Erica's warm breath on her already sensitive skin and the movement she made while kissing her neck made her remember of how Juliana pressed her against the Hotel wall while still in Cancun. Valentina shakes her head in order to make the memory go away and nodded to the other woman, feeling herself being taken through the crowd until they reached the exit sign.

\--

"Shit," Valentina complained, murmuring as she opened her eyes and received the sunshine strikes on her face, covering her eyes with both hands at the same time. "Uuf," she sighed, and slowly opened them to get used to the brightness and looked around to know where she was.

In her room. She stretched and moaned when she felt her whole body hurt and sighed, unable to remember exactly what had happened the night before. She just remembered that she was at the party with Érica and then they came to her apartment and had some more wine and-

Erica.

Valentina jerked her eyes open and rose to her elbows, looking around her room for any sign that the woman was still there. "Erica?" she asked loudly, thinking the woman might be in the bathroom, but nothing came out of it, not a single sound.

"Look who's up," Samara appeared out of nowhere, making Valentina startle.

"Fucking hell, Samara, you scared me!" Valentina laid back on the bed and placed her left hand on her chest, listening and feeling her heart race at the fright her friend gave her. "What are you doing here?"

"Ahm, I live here?"

"No shit," Valentina said sarcastically and sat straighter on the bed. "I meant, what are you doing here, weren't you going to have lunch with your parents or something? Today is Saturday, isn't it?" She asked, lost and getting up from the bed.

"Hey, hey hey! Put some clothes on before you leave the room, okay?" Samara said when she saw Valentina getting out of bed, making the chestnut look at her body and realize that she was completely naked. Except for the panties she was wearing.

"You talk like you haven't seen me naked before." She complained heading toward the door. "And I'm wearing panties. Although you also have seen the goblin I keep inside my-" Valentina stopped talking and glanced at her friend, who was suddenly standing in front of her, blocking her exit from the room. "Can you get out of my way, please?" She asked politely and a little annoyed.

Samara smiled at her, her most entertaining smile. "Maybe you want to put on at least one blouse. Unless you want to cause the brunette from Cancun to fall in love with you, too, seeing you naked like that."

Valentina's eyes widened at that. "What?" her question was no louder than a murmur.

"Your little girlfriend called you a thousand and one times and I couldn't stand your cell phone ringing any longer and you not waking up with it ringing by your side, so I decided to spare her suffering and answered and she told me she was here on our street and- "

"H-how was she here on our street, she doesn't even know where we live, how she was here me-"

"She told me you mentioned that you lived three blocks from her job, and she was coming by today and figured it was going to be this one." Valentina was listening to everything that came out of her friend's mouth but she didn't know if she could digest everything her ears could pick up. "So I gave our address and she's sitting right now in our living room waiting for you. I had tried to wake you up before by opening the curtains but they didn't have the effect I thought they would have. You sleep like a dead man, Valentina." She laughed at her own joke. "And let me say this? With all the respect in the world? I totally understand now why you're so.. like that with her," she said that pointing up and down to Valentina. "She is hot as fuck. I might wanna turn into a lesbian for her too. Or bisexual, that would work too."

''What the fuck.. "she whispered dropping the file that Juliana, the woman she couldn't get out of her head, was sitting in her living room. "Fuck I'm going to take a quick shower and change, tell her please. I'm going out in a few minutes," she said, completely ignoring what Sama had said about Juliana and rushed into her bathroom closing the door behind her.

-  
"What am I doing here.." Juliana whispered to herself as she looked around. Valentina's apartment had her personality all over it. And it was as disorganized as her personality, she laughed as she associated it. She wondered if it was her place and her friend was just living there with her.

Even though she was finding the place warm and cozy and with a lot of details and decorations that she could and wanted to get lost seeing them, not even trying to focus on things around her calmed her heartbeat by remembering that she was at Valentina's house. In her living room. And by surprise, because she didn't even know she would be brave enough to do that. But Juliana couldn't take it anymore. She felt bad about taking so long to answer her yesterday and about bailing on her and not going to the lunch that they had almost agreed on because they didn't confirm anything later by text. And after seeing that she had read her message and had not responded, that made her feel even worse.

So she did what anyone out of her sanity would do. She would lie saying that she was passing through the neighborhood without really being there just to see the person. And she really wanted to see Valentina.

She won't lie, though. Meeting Valentina had changed Juliana's perception of life in a way she didn't know was possible, and it was all for the better. She got to know herself better after meeting the brunette in Mexico and sharing that night. She realized that the perception of love she had was much more than what she had presumed. And that maybe, some feelings that she had at a certain time in her life now made sense after talking to Valentina.

Valentina was a free-spirited woman and everything about her sounded fresh and interesting and Juliana knew she would never be able to say no to her. And that's why she answered right away when asked if she didn't want to spend a week at Valentina's house while she'd be at her city, so yes, she would love to spend the week at Valentina's and save some money. That was the true truth as to why she had accepted the offer.

But God and the universe knew it was a big ass lie, she just wanted to spend a whole week next to Valentina. She did know what she wanted to be doing, and that feeling of wanting that was inside of her was what terrified her. She didn't want to want to spend this time with Valentina so much. In a few days she would be leaving and who knows when they would be seeing each other again.

But the New Yorker had already taken over most of the Texan's thoughts, and she no longer knew what to do to stop thinking about her so much. Or either if she wanted to stop thinking about her.

"Juls!" Juliana froze at her voice, but suddenly turned around to see the other woman smiling big at her.

"Val, hi!" Valentina seemed to be newly woken, with wet hair and sweatpants and a tank top. "I'm sorry I came without warning, I remembered you told me you lived near my job and when I realized I was on your street I-"

"Nah, it's okay," Valentina said, interrupting Juliana and when the shorter one realized she was being wrapped in a hug by Valentina, automatically closing her eyes as her skin came in contact with Valentina's. She shivered a little as her hot skin came in contact with Valentina's cool one, after the bath she had just taken. She absolutely didn't shiver because of the fact that Valentina smelt like some fresh, eccentric fruit. Her heart didn't start racing as she associated the fact that the scent of fruit that invaded her senses was making her too comfortable, and subsequently, was making her want to stay in that embrace for much longer than socially allowed before making it weird.

"Oh, good then," Juliana managed to say, releasing herself from Valentina's embrace awkwardly. "I wanted to apologize to you, about yesterday," Juliana said looking at Valentina. "It's just that we lost track of how much we drank and woke up super late and still needed to pack up some things and-"

"Yes, yes, I read the messages," Valentina smiled at her. "How was the play?"

"Oh, it was amazing, truly magnificent." Juliana answered remembering the play she and Diego went to see last night. One that he had chosen without asking her if she wanted to go. Which she absolutely didn't because she'd rather meet up with Valentina somewhere and just be in her presence. "And yes, I saw that you read it, the message, I mean. That's why I'm here, because you didn't answer and.. I wanted to see if we were ok. I mean,-" "We're perfectly fine, Juls," Valentina reassured her. "I just had read the message at a moment I couldn't respond and then I forgot to." Valentina lied. She didn't want Juliana to know she felt a little bit forgotten by the stylist. "Ok then," Juliana smiled back and looked around the room, trying to lessen the discomfort. "It seems you had fun yesterday too, apparently? Waking up at this time.." Juliana smiled at Valentina who indicated the sofa for her to sit.

"I went out with Cris and some friends yesterday," Valentina said, sitting down too, keeping a safe distance from Juliana. "We went to a bar nearby and I came back a little late."

"How come you came back late, Vale, you came back very early with Erica, I came home late," Samara said, interrupting the conversation and heading towards the kitchen to get a glass of water. Valentina looked at Juliana visibly uncomfortable by her friend's lack of tact and Juliana gave her a small smile trying to show her that everything was fine. "You may have slept late, Val." She said smiling at Valentina back in the living room, but that smile disappeared as soon as she looked at her friend and realized she was glaring at her. "And I.. I'm going back to my room. I'll let you talk more.. alone. It was nice to meet you, Juliana, Val talks a lot about you." Valentina closed her eyes at that while Juliana smiled.

"The pleasure is mine, Samara." Juliana answered, the smile still on her face.

Valentina sank her head into her hands, wishing a hole would appear so she could shove herself in. She loved her best friend more than a lot of things, but at times like this she just wanted to throw her out the window.

"So.." Valentina regained color on her face and looked back at Juliana, who was already staring at her with the same smile on her face. "Want to do something today? I haven't eaten anything yet and we could... I don't know. Have lunch? Have an afternoon snack." She ended by laughing when she saw Juliana's expression after looking at the clock. "Okay, so it's going to be an afternoon snack, it's really a little late for lunch." She got up from the couch and stretched, raising her arms over her head and stretching them, Juliana not losing an inch of skin in sight. "I'll change quickly and we leave, ok?" Juliana could only nod, seeing Valentina walk out into the corridor, probably going into her bedroom, and for the first time since she saw the blue-eyed woman in front of her, she could breathe properly.

\--

"So.." Juliana asked, lowering the menu that was in her hand and looking at Valentina who was sitting in front of her, still with the menu covering all her face. "Have you decided what to eat?"

Valentina took two seconds to lower the menu she was holding, biting her lip still searching for something to eat, but after a few more seconds she nodded, "Yes, I'll order scrambled eggs, bacon, some toast, coffee, and a glass of orange juice. You?"

"Just coffee and scrambled egg toast," Juliana said grinning, looking at Valentina, who was smiling back at her. She then called for the waiter to pick up their orders and focused back on Juliana. "It's great to see you this close without being through a phone screen"

Juliana's grin widened at that. "Same,"

"But tell me, how is your life in bustling Washington DC?" Valentina asked, placing both hands on the table and playing with a napkin.

Juliana smiled more when she realized that the woman in front of her couldn't keep herself quiet, she always had to have something in her hands to hold her attention. "Ahm, you know.. more of the same. Working hard, resting when I can, hanging out with friends. Nothing much." She shifted in her chair. "What about you?"

"Same." Valentina wrinkled her nose and smiled at her. "And your friend.."

"Diego,"

"Yes, Diego. Is he enjoying my city? Are you showing him all the important spots?"

"Your city?" Juliana asked, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't know you owned a city," "There are a lot of things you still don't know about me, Juls," Valentina said in a low tone that Juliana felt in the depths of her body, making it tingle in parts it shouldn't tingle at all. "Well," She cleaned her throat, "I've told you that I don't know your city that well," Juliana said with a small smile on her face. "And honestly, I would prefer that you were the one giving me the tour that you promised me. But four days here and so far we weren't lucky enough.." Juliana stopped and stared at Valentina, who was staring back. Her eyes fixed on Juliana and she felt her breath getting caught up on her throat. Again. "At least me and you, tho," She quickly added. "Diego and I are visiting the places we can at the free times we have, and yes, he's enjoying your city." Juliana finished saying looking intently at Valentina. "And I wanted to hang out with you without his company. Diego can sometimes be.. a little unnecessary. He doesn't know when he's interrupting something." Juliana said and laughed a little, watching Valentina who shook her head a little as if she had agreed but saying nothing.

"I understand. I wish I could be showing you my city the way I know it too. But there's still time for that." Valentina returned her gaze to Juliana, who, as soon as she saw the blue eyes staring, shifted her brown gaze to the surroundings she was in.

"I like this cafe," Juliana pointed out. "I wouldn't have found it without you, so you're already showing me a little bit of New York."

"I want to show you other things too." Valentina said quietly, her gaze still on Juliana. They stayed that way for a few seconds until the waiter came back with their orders and they started eating silently. "Around the city, I meant,"

Juliana smiled, shaking her head. "So," She started talking again when she had already satisfied some of her hunger since she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. Definitely not because she was nervous about going to see the other woman. "It looks like you had a very... adventurous night yesterday," Juliana said and Valentina looked at her with an eyebrow raised in a confused expression. "You have a.." Juliana pointed to her own neck and saw how Valentina's eyes widened, smiling a little when she saw the reaction of the woman sitting in front of her.

"No way," Valentina whispered and reached for her phone in her back pocket, opening the camera and pointing to her neck, seeing the horrible hickey on it. "How in the hell I didn't notice this thing," Valentina closed her eyes in frustration, ashamed to death to face Juliana now. "I'm sorry," she finally faced Juliana, who had a short grin on her face.

"You don't have to apologize for anything," Juliana clarified, her focus on her plate in front of her. "You owe me no explanations, Val. You are a single woman,"

"Yes, I'm single," Valentina repeated what Juliana said as if she were saying that to remind her. "You?" Valentina cleared her throat before asking the question she wanted to ask Juliana, not knowing if she really wanted to know the answer. "Enjoying your bachelorhood too?"

_''Bachelorhood'? What kind of question is that, Valentina"_ Valentina complained to herself.

"Yes, I am enjoying my bachelorhood, Val," Juliana said smiling, "Although I don't have as much evidence exposed as you," "My night wasn't as fun as this stupid mark may seem," Valentina started saying, a little shy. "We literally just drank too much after we got to my place and then went straight to bed." "And where's this from?" Juliana asked, trying to sound more curious than jealous. "Actually, no, that's none of my business, I'm sorry-." "No, that's fine. This is from the party I went to yesterday." Valentina said, her fingers making movements around her coffee. "She was there with me and well.. it doesn't matter really." She shaked her head. "I have been seeing other people."

"What?" Valentina looked at Juliana confused.

"You asked me if I was seeing people... I answered."

"Women?" Valentina asked quietly.

"Uhum," Juliana nodded, "women too," she gave Valentina a shy smile. "You kind of.. opened and showed me a world of possibilities."

"So you consider yourself gay now?" Valentina asked, trying to sound casual, and not as if she hated to discover that Juliana was seeing other women. And none of them were her.

"I don't know," she replied, finishing drinking her watermelon juice. "Well, I still like men,"

"Ew," Valentina said jokingly, making a disgusted face sticking out her tongue, Juliana laughing at her reaction.

"I'm sorry, but in that sense, we don't share the same taste," She smiled at Valentina, who felt her heart racing at the sight. "But I realized that I like women just as much. Or at least as an equal. I have had some experiences with both sexes and.. nothing to complain about."

Valentina watched her as Juliana opened up about her sexuality, trying not to absorb too much of the fact that she was attracted to other women. It may sound selfish and narcissistic, but having the thought that Juliana had only been attracted to her, and enough to have something with her, even though it was a brief relationship with her, made Valentina feel special. She just didn't know what that meant yet.

"Well," Valentina started to speak and raised her glass of juice. "I am sure that for you to start liking only women will be a fast trip. But while this exclusivity for women doesn't happen yet, we can toast our single life." She lifted her glass and waited until Juliana lifted hers and touched it with Valentina's.

"Cheers," Juliana said looking at her.

"Cheers," Valentina said the same thing, looking at Juliana's lips.

\--

"Well," Juliana said as soon as they left the cafe and headed for the street. "I know I already asked you that, but I don't remember if you answered me. Do you have any plans for tonight?"

"Not really," Valentina replied smiling and turning to Juliana while automatically covering her eyes with her arm to block the direct light on them. "I forgot my sunglasses at home, and I'm still not 100% sober enough to handle so much clarity," She said, laughing lightly.

"And I forgot mine, so I'll keep you company," She said smiling at Valentina. "Do you want to do something tonight? I mean, you must already have plans, of course, it's Saturday, but if you don't, we could-" Juliana said and felt Valentina's arm touching her waist and pulling her to the opposite side that she was going and stopped talking right away. She looked up and found Valentina looking at her with a small grin on her face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you and you were going the wrong way," She shrugged and let go of Juliana, who felt the lack of contact immediately when she no longer felt Valentina's hand on her waist. "Continue,"

"Ahm," Juliana blinked and tried to remember what she was talking about. "Mhm, yes, so... go out with me today. I mean, not with me, but it can also be with me if you want. But I don't know what to do though, maybe see a play or go to a party-"

"I have a friend's birthday today," Valentina put her hands in the back pockets of her pants and looked at Juliana with a half-smile. "But I would love it if you could go."

Juliana couldn't contain the smile that opened up in her mouth and nodded shyly. "I would love to. Just tell me the time and give me the address."

"Hmm, I think I'd better get you home." Valentina gave it as an option. "We live close to each other anyway, it won't be much work."

"Okay," Juliana nodded, looking at the feet. The gazes they were exchanging were almost killing her. She needed to ground herself a little. "I'll give you my address then, by message. What time is the party?" She asked when she saw that she was approaching Valentina's building, already missing the other woman's presence, but interrupting those feelings there and now, she couldn't be missing her when she was still there beside her. In fact, she shouldn't miss Valentina at any time.

"It will start at 8 pm, but I will pick you up at 8:30 pm." Juliana frowned at that and when Valentina stopped in front of her building and saw Juliana, her confused expression was still on her face. "It is charming to arrive late sometimes, you know," Valentina said simply, making Juliana laugh. "And none of my friends arrive on time either, so I don't want to be the first." She added.

"8:30 pm it is, then." Juliana smiled at her.

"Do you want to go up a little?" Valentina asked nervously, not knowing if that request was too much in a short time, but she just knew that she didn't want to break paths with Juliana now.

The plans she had made for the two of them this week that Juliana was going to stay at her house, everyone, absolutely every single one had gone down the drain. And today, on the fourth day that the black-haired woman was in her city, she could finally have a private time with her so that they could finally sit and talk, like really talk. And that was just what the blue-eyed woman really wanted. Chat with Juliana.

"I'd love to," Juliana replied looking at Valentina with a sweet smile that was soon combined with Valentina's.

"Ok, come on," Valentina pushed the door to her building and gave Juliana space to pass and then went right behind her, trying not to focus on how Juliana's ass moved in front of her and trying not to think about how much she wanted to touch it.

They went up the few stairs that gave access to Valentina's apartment and this time it was Juliana who gave space so that Valentina could pass in front of her and manage to open the door, something that Valentina did not take long and the two entered right away.

"Do you want something to drink? Coffee?" Valentina asked as she headed towards the kitchen.

"We just left a coffee shop, Val." Juliana said laughing.

"Shit. That's true. Sorry. Then uhmm, water? Juice? Wine?" Valentina looked anxiously at Juliana. She really just wanted something to do and keep some distance from Juliana, at least for now, hoping that her chest would stop beating so loudly.

"Water is fine." Juliana replied smiling and turned when she saw that Valentina nodded and opened the refrigerator. "I like your living room. It's just... you. All over it."

Valentina smiled at that. "I like it too. It took me a while to make it look exactly the way I wanted it to look, with everything I like about it in it." She said with her eyes fixed on Juliana's.

"And were you able to get everything you wanted?" Juliana asked, also looking at her.

Valentina nodded. "Huhum, everything I like and want is in it."

Juliana held her breath when she heard that and felt her pulse start to beat harder.

When she opened her mouth to ask what exactly she liked was in her room, Valentina's friend appeared out of nowhere, again, and the two paid attention to what she was talking about. Or at least Juliana tried to pay attention. She only understood that it was something about the outfit she was going to wear for the party and she was informing Valentina that she was going to borrow some of her clothes because she was sick of the ones she owned.

And as soon as she entered she left. Like a hurricane. Making the two women laugh while Valentina entered the living room and handed Juliana a glass of water and pointed to the sofa, indicating that Juliana should sit down.

"Sorry about that, Sama can be.. too much sometimes." Valentina said with a short smile.

"Okay, I have one of these at home too." Juliana shrugged.

"What? A wild and super inconvenient best friend who doesn't know when she can appear in places or say the right things at the right moments?" Valentina asked playfully, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, maybe not as intense as Sama," Juliana said laughing and Valentina soon followed.

"You live alone?" Valentina asked after a while that the silence was becoming greater in the room. But it was a comfortable silence, not the kind that would want to make Valentina run.

Juliana nodded her head. "Yes, I do. I left home to go to college and ended up staying right there. I went to Georgetown University and when I left I was already interning. Then one thing led to another and when I saw it I was already stabilized here. I mean, there."

"But have you always lived alone? Have you never shared an apartment with anyone?" Valentina asked confused since she was in college she always had shared the apartment she lived with. With Sami, it had been six years since they lived together.

"No, I've shared it before. I shared it throughout the whole college time, right after I graduated I went to share one with a friend.. then I shared it with a boyfriend," Juliana paused and smiled slightly. "It didn't work out, as you may have noticed." She put a lock of hair behind her ear and placed both feet on the sofa, one under the other. "After I separated from my ex I decided to live alone. My friend was already sharing an apartment with someone else and I didn't want to impose my rightful place," Juliana said these last words making the quotation marks with her fingers. "So I decided to live on my own, start from scratch. I bought some used furniture, I gradually furnished it. Today my apartment is great. It's my favorite place in the whole world."

Valentina smiled at that. Juliana seemed to be so independent. But she doesn't imagine herself living alone, she needs to have someone always with her, just like she always had. "I can't imagine myself living alone," Valentina said. "I think it's because my house has always been so very crowded. My brothers, my father, my stepmother, Silvina and her husband.."

"Who is Silvina?" Juliana asked curiously.

"Silvina is our housekeeper." Valentina said simply, forgetting that not everyone had a maid, let alone a housekeeper. And she seemed to realize this when she saw Juliana open her mouth, not believing.

"You have a housekeeper?"

"I don't, my dad has a housekeeper." Valentina said blandly. Talking about how much money her family has doesn't make her very comfortable.

"It's basically the same thing, just fancier," Juliana said in amusement. ''What does your father do to have that much money. Or at least, enough money to have a housekeeper?"

Valentina settled herself on the uncomfortable chair she was sitting on. She really hated having this conversation.

"You don't like talking about your family's business?" Juliana asked, noticing the other woman's discomfort.

"Ahm, that's not it. Well, a little. My dad owns a newspaper in Rhode Island." Valentina simply said, trying to cut the subject short.

"Rhode Island? I thought you told me you were from here?" Juliana asked, confused.

"I am from here. But I lived there when I was younger, then I came back here to go to college and, well, I'm still here. New York is my favorite place in the whole world." Valentina finished and took a sip of her water.

"It must be a very famous newspaper to give you the possibility of having a housekeeper at home. And I don't even want to imagine the size of your house to need a housekeeper," Juliana said, laughing slightly, looking at Valentina, who now looked visibly uncomfortable. "I'm sorry," Juliana cleared her throat. "You don't get along with your family? You seem uncomfortable with me talking about them."

"No, that's not it. I get along with them, really well," Valentina said. "I just don't like it, I don't feel comfortable talking about the family business."

"Only people who have money would feel uncomfortable talking about how much money they have," Juliana said laughing this time. "But ok, let's change the topic. Do you get along with them, then?"

"Yes, I do. With all of them." Valentina said smiling now. "My brother Guille is married to Renata and they are expecting their first child. Guille is 4 years older than me. And my other sister is Eva. She is already married to Mateo and has a little girl, Isabela. Isa is 4 years old. They both work at my father's company."

"Didn't you want to? Work with your father, I mean." Juliana asked and sank further down on the couch.

Valentina, tired of not being able to be as comfortable as Juliana appeared to be, left the chair she was sitting on and went to sit on the opposite side of Juliana on the sofa, taking a pillow and placing it in the middle of her crossed legs. "I started working for him," she said, placing the already empty glass of water on the coffee table in the living room. "Just like all of us. We already had secured jobs. We have already secured everything for the rest of our lives," she chuckled quietly. "But I wanted more, I wanted to create a name just for me, you know? I was always the sister of Guillermo and Evangelina. Since we were little we studied at the same school, we circulated through the same social circles. I always had to live beyond the expectations of my siblings, who were always incredible in everything they did. It was too much for me to live, having to exceed the expectations of my father and Eva. I didn't feel much pressure from Guille, he was the only one who didn't pressure me to anything. When it came to choosing college I also had to exceed my father's expectations for his youngest kid. He wanted me to do journalism. I wanted photography, although I love journalism too. So I decided to take the course that my father wanted but with a focus on what I wanted, and I ended up in photojournalism. Which is obviously not what I do today," She chuckled again. "But I love what I do anyway. My father and Eva think I deserve much more than I have and what I am today and they keep bothering me to come home and work with them. But I don't want to. I like being here, I have my friends, my home, my job, and a reputation that I created alone from scratch. I wouldn't trade it here for anything. I think." She ended up saying and looked at Juliana for the first time after she went to sit on the couch.

She didn't know why she hadn't looked at her while she was talking. She only knew that she wanted Juliana to see her as more than her family was or what she had. She wanted Juliana to like this Valentina who was there, in front of her. And that she didn't think her choices were silly, that if she were she, she would be working with the family ruled by perks. But when she looked into Juliana's eyes she realized that Juliana was not going to be one of those people.

"Well," Juliana sighed. "I think what you did and do is quite noble. And I support you. 100%. Not that you need my support or approval," She laughed, "but I understand your reasons and I think I would do the same. It is not easy for you to leave the comfort of your home to follow what you want to do. It doesn't matter if you have a lot of money or not. Following your own path will always be difficult if you want to escape from what the destiny had already defined you. And wow. I didn't plan for it to go that deep," Juliana grinned and Valentina laughed along with her.

"Okay, I got the message," Valentina smiled at her. "Do you get along with your family? I remember you told me you don't have any brothers, right?"

"Right," Juliana replied. "I'm an only child. So all expectations were on me and I broke them one by one," Juliana laughed dryly.

"How come?" Valentina asked, confused.

"Well.. let's say I never had a good relationship with my father. My biological father. He never accepted me as a daughter, he thought my mother had cheated on him because of a rumor running around in the neighborhood. They got divorced a few years ago because he found other people that he thought were more worthy of his time than us. But he really is not a good person. Or he wasn't, I don’t know anymore, I haven't talked to him since he left us. He lives in Mexico today and is married and has a son, I mean, it's not his kid, it’s his wife's, but that doesn’t prevent him from having a great relationship with him," She smiled, sighing. "I think the big secret was for me to be born a man, maybe I could have a shot in having some kind of relationship with him." She shrugged. "And then my mother married Panchito. He is a great man but I don't have a lot to do with him either. He has three other children, from his old marriage."

"So do you have considerate siblings," Valentina stated.

"No, I don't consider them siblings. I hardly ever see them.. we really don't have anything, any kind of relationchip. Panchito's children live with their mother and they only visit him sometimes. But my mother has a great relationship with them and they love her too."

Valentina nodded. "With your mother.. you have a good relationship with her, then?"

Juliana smiled humorless listening to Valentina. "Let's say we love each other a lot and that's enough. We care about each other.. but we are not that close." Juliana finished drinking her water and placed it with Valentina's glass on the table. "My mother's relationship with my biological father was never healthy. He didn't hit her or anything, but she lived for him. She lived to make his life easier, as he reminded her daily, and I was just there. My mother did everything to get him to recognize me as a daughter, to get him to like me, but nothing she did help much, and she also didn't care so much that he wasn't the best father. As long as he gave us a roof and food and clothes, everything was fine with her." She shrugged. "She loved him. Until the day he left her. It was a very difficult time for both of us, my mother didn't work at the time, she was always at home. I was just a student, never had worked before as well. But then she got a job thanks to a neighbor and things started to get better, slowly, but they did. I was a little older too and had a part-time job at night. I wanted to help out at home and join college, which was another disappointment for my mother. I had enough grades to do medicine, or advocacy, or whatever big fancy college degree she wanted me to study but I wanted to do design, I wanted to design clothes, and my mother didn't understand how I could throw away so much talent," Juliana smiled. "But I didn't care, I wanted to be a stylist. So I worked and saved a little money. As I was one of the best students in the school, I won a great scholarship. My mother was obviously not happy. And on top of everything I feel that she thinks it was my fault that my father abandoned us, she always said that I didn’t try hard enough for him to like me, as if it was my duty that he accepted me as a daughter," she shook her head. "At that time she was already with Panchito too, so I just took the few things I had and packed everything in a big suitcase and came to Washington. To study what I dreamed of studying and what I was good at doing. And now I'm here, doing very well, thank you very much."

Juliana finished speaking with a sad smile on her face, and when she saw that Valentina had the same sad smile she said, "But enough of sad stories, I didn't come here today to talk about my sad past so I'm sorry. I'm fine today, my mother is fine, we're fine and in a while, I'll spend Christmas with her, so everything is great."

"It's not all great, Juls. You didn't deserve to have grown up in such a shitty environment." Valentina said coming closer to Juliana and placing her hand on her thigh, caressing her.

"Well," Juliana said, placing her hand on top of Valentina's. "I shouldn't have but I did. And there's nothing much I can do about to change it, so I got over it. Everything is fine today."

"You grew up and overcame and became this incredible woman," Valentina said in a low voice, approaching Juliana until she couldn't get any closer, with her leg on top of Juliana's, and her hand caressing the stylist's face, "You know you're an incredible woman, don't you?" She asked almost in a whisper, blue eyes fixed on brown eyes, Juliana's mouth half-open, and her head nodding slowly.

"I mean, I know I have some good qualities," Juliana said and for a second her gaze went to Valentina's mouth and then she went back up to look her in the eye, which she easily knew could become her favorite color.

"You have thousands of good qualities, Juls," Valentina said, and with the hand that was caressing Juliana's face she started to slowly bring it up to the nape of the dark-haired woman, intertwining her fingers with her hair, Juliana closing her eyes when she felt Valentina's hand close slowly and with that, pulling some hair with the movement. "I would love to get to know the rest of them," Valentina said and when she leaned over to kiss her, Sama appeared in the living room scaring the two of them, who split up on the spot. Juliana brings her hand to her chest and Valentina to her face.

"Samara," Valentina started to speak visibly annoyed. "Don't you know any way of being less noisy?"

"Sorry, I came to ask if you think I look good in this outfit." Samara said and turned around in the same place so that Valentina could see the complete look.

"Sama, the party doesn't start in a few hours yet." Valentina said tiredly. "But you look beautiful. As always. Now can you please leave us alone?"

Raising her eyebrows Samara said confusedly, "What do you mean in a few hours? It's less than two hours before the party, Valentina."

Valentina took out her phone from her pocket and looked at Juliana with a smile on her face. "I think we lost a little track of the time, it's past seven o'clock."

Juliana's eyes widened. "What?" Juliana took Valentina's hand and turned the phone screen towards her. "Shit, I better go and start getting ready too," Juliana got up from the sofa and went to the living room table to get her bag. "I'll see you in a few minutes, okay?" She told Valentina, who was already behind her.

"Are you going to ask for an uber?" Valentina asked worriedly.

"No, Val, I know how to get there and it will only be a 20-minute walk."

"Yes, but with the uber, you arrive in five. And I'll be less worried, it's already dark out there, Juls." Valentina looked at Juliana and the shorter one felt all her concern in her eyes.

"Okay, I'll ask for an uber." She said and Valentina smiled at her.

"And I'm going.. to my room. Val, are we going together?" Sama asked before leaving the living room.

"I'll get to Juls first and then we can go from there. Is that ok?" She asked her friend who nodded and left the room towards her own.

"Ok, my driver is a minute away," Juliana said, putting her phone in her pocket. "See you later?" She asked looking at Valentina, who was so close to her that she could feel the warm heat emanating from the other woman's body. Valentina just nodded, smiling. "Perfect. I will send you the name of my hotel."

"Why do you keep saying that, I literally left you in front of it, remember?" Valentina asked, smiling and in a low voice.

"Oh, that's true." Juliana smiled and leaned in, placing a kiss that took longer than she should have on the corner of Valentina's mouth. "See you in a moment."

And with that she went out and left Valentina drooling, watching her leave her apartment. "I can't wait," Valentina said and closed the door with a smile on her lips.

Valentina had no idea how long she was on the dance floor. She felt her hair wet with sweat sticking to her bareback thanks to the top she was wearing, and with alcohol already in her system and the loud music hitting her ears she felt herself floating, bodies beating against her trying to stay in the rhythm of the music.

She opened her eyes when she felt a body especially close to hers, dancing against hers. Still moving, she waited while her eyes were adjusting to the brightness of constant lights turning on and off of the dark environment, and when they finally adjusted she could look better to the woman in front of her, her smile diminishing a little when she realized that the woman was not the person she wanted to see.

Valentina, Juliana, and Samara had arrived at the party together and their only apparent purpose was to dance until they couldn't take it on the dance floor anymore. And that was what they were doing until now, while Valentina still didn't know where she and Juliana were in their relationship if they have any relationship at all, and so she was trying to make room for the woman to take the first step. In Valentina's eyes, she had already made it clear to Juliana what she wanted.

And then they danced and just danced. In the middle of the party, when the dance floor no longer had space for people to enter, Juliana was already friends with the birthday girl and Valentina's friend and the rest of the group. They all danced together in the same area, which, still being a small area, Valentina felt that she was miles away from Juliana's body. But she said nothing. She didn't even force anything and kept dancing with everyone while she exchanged glances with Juliana and when they didn't, she could have sworn to feel her body burn with the black-haired woman looking at her dancing.

"Remember me?" The woman asked, pulling Valentina around the waist, gluing their bodies as she spoke with her mouth pressed to Valentina's ear.

Valentina closed her eyes and smiled, feeling her body shiver with the hoarseness of the woman's voice and her proximity. "Of course I remember, Fatima, how are you?" She asked back, this time her mouth pressed to the woman's ear so she could hear it.

Valentina then looked ahead and found brown eyes attentive to hers, watching the whole situation, still dancing.

"I'm better now," Fatima said, placing her hand on the back of Valentina's neck, their bodies glued together face to face, dancing to the rhythm of the music, "I haven't seen you at these parties in a while. Did something happen?"

"Nope," Valentina replied, shaking her head, still looking at the brown-eyed woman in front of her. "I was just too busy with work."

"Ah yeah, work demands can be exhausting.." The woman spoke again in Valentina's ear, while she still looked at Juliana, feeling herself being undressed by the way the Texan looked at her. Valentina didn't know what it was, but to feel the way Juliana devoured her with her eyes while another woman as beautiful as she was, but that she wasn't feeling any lust, was flirting with her, was making her body explode with sensations. "I know another activity that can be quite exhausting as well, but I'm sure is certainly more pleasurable," Fatima said and this time she kissed Valentina's neck, who when she felt the woman's lips on her neck moved away from her to look her in the eyes.

"Fatima, forgive me, but tonight I-"

"Val? Can you help me with something?" Valentina felt a hand touch her forearm and when she turned around she saw the brown eyes she most wanted to see up close all night, right in front of her.

"What?" Valentina asked, confused.

"I asked," Juliana started again and leaned over Valentina, her mouth close to her ear. "I asked if you could help me with something," She spoke slowly, Valentina felt her body burn with pleasure when she felt Juliana's warm breath over her skin, and without being able to do anything else, she just nodded and felt herself being taken away by her hand, dodging the dancing bodies on the dance floor.

Valentina didn't know where she was being taken and honestly, she didn't care. She would go wherever Juliana wanted her to, no matter how far, but it didn't take much to deduce where the woman was leading her when they finally managed to get out of the sea of people, heading to the bathrooms.

And it didn't take long either before they found an empty bathroom stall, Juliana pushing Valentina over to get inside it and then up against the closed door, their bodies glued together as their mouths joined together in a passionate kiss that soon consumed them both with each touch of their tongues.

Juliana placed both hands on the back of Valentina's neck, intertwining her hair with her fingers and pulling them out with a little force, forcing Valentina to moan in her mouth and bring their bodies impossibly closer together.

After a while of just hot slick kisses and wandering hands, Juliana released Valentina's lips and tilted her neck so that she could have room to explore it with kisses and the run of her tongue against Valentina’s pulsing area.

"I’ve been dying to do this all night," Juliana whispered, not taking her lips off Valentina's neck. "Hell, I’ve been dying to do this since you picked me up at the airport,"

”And what took you so long?” Valentina asked as she tried to focus on the experience of Juliana owning her like this, against some random door in the middle of a dirty bathroom. "And what made you change your mind and act on it?"

"Seeing that woman all over you," Juliana replied, taking Valentina's ear between her teeth and pulling it out gently, running her fingers over the tallest girl's stomach, slowly raising them up under her breasts. "Actually," she put both hands under Valentina's top, squeezing both her breasts simultaneously, as she observed Valentina throwing her head back and groaning. "It was when I saw you talking to her, and she was kissing your neck, but you wouldn't take your eyes off me. I felt like I was going to explode if I didn't have my way with you there and now. And I knew you wanted me too,"

As soon as she finished speaking, Juliana took Valentina's lips on hers again and downed her hands to the zipper of her pants, opening it and placing it inside her panties, the other arm holding her in place as she revealed in the warmth of feeling Valentina so ready for her. "Jesus, Val," She exhaled as they both moaned in unison.

Valentina started to move her hips involuntarily, silently begging Juliana to stop teasing her and get right to the point, "Juls, please, you're torturing me-" she implored, making Juliana smile over her lips, pulling her hand out of Valentina's pants in a sudden movement provoking the brunette to let out a throaty grunt, but before she could complain, she realized that Juliana was bending down while downing her pants. “Patience, Carvajal,” Juliana said as she went up Valentina’s body, her lips tracing a path kisses across her body.

Valentina didn't know if she would be able to withstand so much sexual desire inside her without collapsing and Juliana had barely touched her. She put both hands on Juliana's shoulders to stabilize herself a little as the brown-eyed woman started to place little chaste kisses inside her thighs as they raised closer to where Valentina wanted her the most.

Valentina was so wet and turned on that she knew for a fact she wouldn't last long and she didn't know if that was good or bad news. Good news because it would mean that she would be able to release all her pleasure fast and hard without shattering in little pieces, or bad, because it would mean less time with Juliana being there with her.

The feeling of Juliana spreading her legs made Valentina come out of her trance and look down, her gaze connecting with Juliana's, who was watching every changing reaction on Valentina's face as she touched her skin and after a sly smile, Valentina let out a loud moan as she saw Juliana exploring her with her hands while she bent to lick, suck and flick Valentina's most sensitive spot. “If you keep moaning like that the entire party will know what we’re doing,” Juliana said in a low tone, her breathing touching her skin as she spoke making Valentina feel goosebumps all over her body and she bite her left hand in an attempt to muffle her moans, whilst being unable to stay still and started to move over Juliana's mouth, keeping a steady rhythm.

"Juls, I'm so close," Valentina said between moans and then with one last lick, she started going up Valentina's body with short kisses on her exposed skin until she reached her top, getting rid of it pulling it down on Valentina's stomach so that she could have a complete view of her breasts, in which she didn’t hesitate to bent, taking one of them in her lips.

Her free hand was making a trip down Valentina’s lower body, inserting two fingers inside her with no ceremony which made Valentina let out a cry of pleasure loud enough to oblige Juliana to drop her nipple to kiss her shut, “I don’t remember you being so loud,” She said smiling on Valentina’s lips, her movements inside the brunette still firm.

“I don’t remember you being this.. skilled on our first time,”

"I’m a fast learner," Juliana replied, gluing their foreheads together, wet with sweat, a smile escaping her lips. Valentina didn’t have any more strength to keep her eyes open and closed them, biting her lips so hard she was afraid she’d bruise them. "Hey, look at me," Valentina heard Juliana demand and opened her eyes immediately, blue eyes meeting intense brown ones. Juliana’s fingers increased its speed inside the blue-eyed woman and it was enough to turn Valentina into a mess of moanings and whining thanks to the strong orgasm that hit her.

Juliana slowly ceased her movements, smiling at how affected the other woman was, watching Valentina still in ecstasy enjoying the last spasms of her released pleasure in a dirty bathroom in the middle of a party. "Let's go to my apartment?" Valentina asked when she finally got control of her breathing again, not waiting for a response from Juliana and shifting their positions, pushing her against the wall at the same time she took the brown-eyed woman's lips with hers in a kiss that bordered on despair and desire.

Taking her fingers from inside her, Valentina guided Juliana’s hands to her mouth, opening it and making her lick them, which she did while staring back at Valentina, in what the woman with the blue eyes was sure was one of the sexiest things she ever witnessed. A few moments later she took Juliana's fingers out of her mouth and collided their lips again, moaning as she felt her taste in the black-haired woman's mouth. "Let's go," she said without disconnecting their lips and deepening the kiss between them all over again.

"We’re never leaving this bathroom," Juliana chuckled as Valentina planted short kisses all across her face.

"Yea, okay," She stopped. "Can you help me?" She asked looking down to see her clothes completely messed up.

"Sure," Juliana laughed and pulled apart, their bodies wet in sweat, hair stuck to their faces. Valentina leaned down and grabbed her pants and panties that were on her feet and pulled the garments up at once, adjusting them to zip up while Juliana climbed up her top and fixed it on her chest. "There," She put Valentina's hair behind her shoulders, fixing it, running her finger between them. "It doesn't even look like we did anything in here," she smiled at Valentina and pushed her so she could open the stall door, going to the sinks to wash her hands.

“How was it possible that no one saw us in here?” Valentina questioned as she took Juliana’s hand in hers as they left the place. Wearing matched beams.

“It’s more likely how they didn’t hear you while we were in there,” She kissed Valentina’s cheek. “And we don’t know that. Maybe someone got in and realized it was.. occupied. We couldn’t have heard anything anyway.” She shrugged

“Yea, whatever” Valentina rolled her eyes in amusement. She didn’t want to talk about how noisy she was in there, she’s not used to be like that while having sex, the loud one. Juliana seemed to free a hidden part of her she didn’t know.

After they left the bathroom, Valentina tried but couldn't find Samara anywhere in the party to tell her she was leaving, so she deduced that her friend might have already left with someone else, which was confirmed when Valentina left the club to meet Juliana outside and saw that she had a message from her friend informing her that she had gone to Claudio's house, a person Samara hook up with regularly.

"I should have looked at my phone before going to try to find Sama for 10 minutes," Valentina said smiling as she saw Juliana, showing her her phone. "She left with a guy,"

"Great," Juliana said, grinning too. "That means that we will have your apartment just for the two of us." She pulled Valentina closer to her and kissed her, stopping when she felt her phone vibrate. "One second, go ask for the car," she broke free from Valentina and answered the call. "Hello.. what?... where are you guys?.. and is he okay? Okay, I'll go over there now."

"What happened?" Valentina asked worriedly after Juliana ended the call.

"I need to go to the hotel, Diego seems to be feeling sick and a boy took him there but he lost his keys and I need to open it for him and see how he is doing, I'm going to ask for a car for me and-"

"Okay, I'll go with you," Valentina said, interrupting Juliana.

"No, Val, you really don't have to."

"I don't remember asking permission to go," Valentina said smiling. "Unless you really don't want me to go." She finished with a concerned face.

"No, of course you can come." Juliana smiled at her, stroking her arm and the two waited for the taxi to arrive to rescue Juliana's friend.

"Damn, Diego, what did you drink to end up like this?" Juliana asked when entering their hotel room, Diogo in the middle between a man and her, Valentina just behind them.

"He said he was drowning his sorrows," The man who brought Diego said, putting him on the bed.

"His sorrows?" Juliana asked as she took off Diego's shoes. "What sorrows?"

"Oh, I don't know, he didn't say anything," The man said. "From what I understand it's your fault, you apparently don't want anything to do with him anymore."

"What?" Juliana stopped what she was doing and faced the man and then looked at Valentina, who was watching her back. "What do you mean, I don't want to - it doesn't even make sense for him to say something like that." She said irritably.

"Well, I'm just repeating what he said. That he was sharing a room with a beautiful woman and that she wants nothing more to do with him any longer.. and well, at least the beautiful part was right." The man flirted with Juliana and took a step closer to her, and Valentina instinctively felt herself stepping in front of Juliana preventing him from taking another step.

"I think you can go now." She said looking at him.

"I agree, I had too many adventures today. Tell Diogo that he owes me one for making me miss the party because of him," The man said and left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Come on Di, collaborate.." Juliana tried to take off the coat the man was wearing but without much success, Valentina went to her to help her and the two took off his coat together, Juliana sitting on the bed and sighing. "He's never been to drink that much."

"There's always a first time for everything, isn't there?" Valentina said with a half-smile. "But ok... shall we go?"

Juliana frowned at the eyebrows. "Where are we going?"

"My house? Wasn't that the plan?"

"To your house? Val, how am I supposed to go to your house and leave Diogo here in this state?" Juliana asked, confused.

"In what state, Juls? He's already drunk, he won't do anything wrong and nothing but a headache and a horrible hangover will happen to him tomorrow." Valentina came close to her. "He doesn't need you here, we can leave medicine over there and water and that's it!"

"Val, I can't leave Diogo here alone in this state!" Juliana countered.

"What are you afraid of? He will literally sleep through the night!"

"What if he wakes up and is still drunk and leaves the room and-"

"You know what?" Valentina interrupted Juliana's chatter. "You're right, stay here with him, I don't care. Do what you want. I'm going back to my place." Valentina turned and headed for the door.

"Val! Wait," Juliana asked, closing her eyes and sighing deeply. "Can we meet tomorrow?" She asked with anxious eyes, waiting for Valentina's answer.

Valentina looked at Juliana and shook her head smiling, "Whatever, Juls." She opened the bedroom door and left without looking back, leaving Juliana confused and angry with herself.

\--

"What a fucking ass day," she said to herself as she passed the key through the lock and opened the door to enter her house. Everything that could go wrong at work did and the situation that she and Juliana ended up yesterday did not help her at all. And the fact that she knew she acted stupidly was eating her alive, but her pride and hurt for not knowing about Juliana and Diogo's relationship was winning over any good judgment. So she just wanted to take a hot shower, then a cold beer and her warm bed.

And that would have been exactly what she would have done if, as soon as she opened the door to her apartment, she didn't see Juliana sitting on the couch, looking at her with big, expectant eyes.

Juliana tried to contact her all day but Valentina just didn't feel like talking to her. It was childish, she knew, but she didn't want to confront the situation, not after a day that had already started off badly after all her photoshoot photos had not been approved at the end of the deal.

"Juls! What are you doing here?" She asked, trying to sound surprised, entering her house and throwing her bag on the living room floor, heading towards the kitchen changing her plans that, instead of starting with a hot shower, she opened a cold beer.

"You didn't answer my messages or answer my calls." Juliana spoke. "I came to see if you were okay."

"I had a busy day." Valentina left the kitchen and sat on the arm of the sofa, tasting her drink. "Sorry''.

"Busy enough to not be able to talk to me for five minutes?" Juliana asked, making Valentina look at her, noticing the sarcasm in the tone of the black-haired woman.

"What do you want, Juls." Valentina asked, rubbing her forehead with her hand after they stood for a few moments looking at each other.

"Talk. About yesterday." Juliana said, coming closer to her. "I just wanted to apologize and explain that Diego and I have nothing and-"

"But you did,"

"Yes, we did but it was nothing serious."

"It wasn't serious and that's why you didn't think you needed to give me that information, right? That's ok so don't worry, we don't have anything so you don't owe me anything and I don't owe you anything. Your apologies are accepted." She nodded toward the door.

"Are you serious?" Juliana snorted. "After what happened yesterday? Is that how you're going to act?"

"And what happened yesterday, Juls? We had sex in the bathroom and then you went to help your little something, who drank everything and was sick and you went to babysit him unnecessarily, that's what happened."

Juliana laughed dryly. "I can't believe it... how old are you? 15? There is no reason for you to act this way! And all this out of jealousy!"

"I am not jealous!" Valentina stood up and faced Juliana, one in front of the other.

"Oh no? So what is it? Because in my view you are just like that because I chose to be with him and not with you!"

"What if this is it?" Valentina asked, challenging her.

"It's pathetic, Valentina." Juliana said looking at her. "He was feeling sick. In a city he never came to, should I leave him alone?"

"Why didn't you tell me that you guys had a relationship?" Valentina asked.

"It wasn't relevant," Juliana replied simply. "It wasn't important, we only had a few dates-"

"It seemed important enough that he went to drink his sorrows away and got sick trying to forget you." Valentina replied bitterly.

"That's not my problem, Val, I already made that very clear to him." Juliana stared at her, watching Valentina's mouth quiver with rage. "I came here because I don't want any bad feelings to exist between us."

"There aren't, we're okay, thanks." Valentina responded by taking a sip of her drink and sitting on the sofa.

"Is it serious?" Juliana asked irritably. "We don't even have anything to make you so angry and treat me like that!"

"Exactly! We don't have anything! So why do you care?" Valentina looked furiously at Juliana.

"Because you confuse me!" Juliana shouted back. ''You are confusing me!''

"There's nothing confusing here, Juls!" Valentina stood up. "I wanted to spend time with you, just with you, show you around, have dinner and then we would go back to my apartment where you would be staying and-"

"And what?" Juliana interrupted Valentina and stood in front of her.

"And nothing, Juls," She sighed, tiredly. "We don't have anything, we don't owe each other any explanations. I was just upset because I thought I would be able to spend much more time than I spent with you and... well, it clearly didn't feel much. Or even enough." She laughed awkwardly. "And I'm sorry, of course, you had to stay with him. He was feeling sick and... I'm sorry. I can't ask you for anything like we're more than friends," She gave a half-embarrassed smile. "I'm sorry, okay? I just had a horrible day and I need a hot shower, that's it." She turned to go to the kitchen.

"What if we did?" Juliana asked quietly, swearing that Valentina hadn't heard. Nor did she know if she wanted to hear those words coming out of her mouth.

"What if we did what, Juls?" Valentina turned again, looking at the black-haired woman.

"I-I think that," Juliana started to stutter and after a while with Valentina watching her, waiting for her to continue, Juliana gathered her courage and said what she wouldn't have the courage to say at any other moment if it weren't for that one. "C'mon Val, we don't need to lie any further to ourselves.." She gave Valentina a weak smile. "I can't get you out of my head... and I don't think you can get me out of yours either." She watched Valentina, who was just looking at her. "I hope."

"What are you talking about, Juls?" Valentina asked almost in a whisper. "You can't stop thinking about me too?" Juliana nodded and then shook her head.

"Wait, what?" She came closer to Valentina. "You can't stop thinking about me, too?" Valentina smiled when she saw Juliana's confused expression and nodded. "Goddamnit, we're so dumb," Juliana said in a low voice looking at the woman with the blue eyes, a smile growing at the corners of her mouth.

"We sure are," Valentina said, getting close to her. "What are we going to do now?"

"You.. I don't know, but I'm going to do this," Juliana finished saying and launched herself at Valentina, taking her mouth in hers and kissing her, taking out all her frustrations and trying to show the other woman by that kiss how much she wanted that moment.

They kissed for a few more minutes when Valentina couldn't take it anymore and pulled away from Juliana, talking with their lips still glued, "let's go to my room," she took Juliana by the hand and guided her to her room.

Juliana didn't even have time to react when she felt herself being thrown on the bed and Valentina getting over her right afterward, kissing her deeply as her hands went under her blouse, Juliana moaning a little with her mouth glued to hers.

"Okay, wait a minute, Val," She interrupted Valentina when she felt the other woman's hand squeeze one of her breasts making her moan a little louder and remembered the real conversation she wanted to have. "We need to talk before we do anything."

"Talk about what?" Valentina asked pouting. "The last thing I want to do is talk," She leaned over and started kissing Juliana's neck, who squirmed with pleasure under her but stopped shortly after, trying to focus on her mission there.

"Val, please wait just a second," She tried again and felt Valentina rise and prop herself up on her elbows, facing Juliana.

"Okay, a second has passed," She leaned over again and kissed Juliana, who smiled when she saw the other woman's desperation doing what she wanted here and now.

"Val," she laughed, "Really, just five minutes then, that's all I need." She tried again and this time, snorting, Valentina lay down next to her and turned to lie on her side on her king size bed.

"What do you want to talk about," Valentina asked, tracing her fingers across Juliana's face.

"Us," Juliana replied simply.

"Us?" Valentina frowned.

"Yes. Ahm.. we already decided that.. decided not, we already agreed that.. we think about each other a lot."

Valentina saw how Juliana's face turned red when she said those words and smiled, leaning over and giving a chaste kiss on her lips. "Thinking a lot about you doesn't even get near about the entirety of the time that I spend thinking about you, to be honest. It's pathetic." Valentina rolled her eyes and Juliana laughed at her reaction.

"Okay, so we're on the same page then." Juliana straightened up and turned to stand on her side, imitating Valentina's position. "I think there is no way to hide anymore that we feel something for the other either." She looked into Valentina's eyes. "I'm at least tired of hiding it. It's exhaustive. Staying these days here and not being able to share them with you as much as I wanted was torture enough."

Juliana finished saying a little shy and Valentina smiled from ear to ear when she heard the confession. "Me too, Juls." She stopped and looked at Juliana. "What do you want to do then?"

"Ahm, I don't know.. I mean, we don't live very far from each other and, anyone I try to have something with, I imagine how it would be like if you were there at the time and it kind of ruins everything," She chuckled. "I think... I don't know. We could try something..." Juliana finished speaking looking everywhere but Valentina's eyes.

"Hey," Valentina lifted Juliana's face by placing her finger under her chin until their eyes met. "I feel the same. Really. But do you think that's a good idea? A long-distance relationship... I never tried."

"Me neither." Juliana smiled. "But it can't be that difficult, can it? And anyway," she moved and placed her body on top of Valentina's. "It's not like I'm going to try a relationship with someone other than you." She whispered. ''Not if you want me to try.''

"Are you sure?" Valentina asked, looking for certainty in the other woman's eye, and saw her nod. "So you want to try this? Relationship at a distance?" Juliana smiled shyly. "You want to be my girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend?" Juliana smiled.

"Yes, I mean.. it makes sense, doesn't it? It feels right."

Juliana continued to smile as she nodded, leaning over and taking Valentina's lips on hers. "This is what I want, too."

"But what about our jobs? ''

"What about them?"

"Juls, since we're being honest here, let's be honest about everything... I don't want to quit my job. Nor you want to quit yours. In the long run... how will this work?"

"I don't want to think about the long term, Val, I want to think about now and here and how much I can't get you out of my head and how much I want to have you in my life every day. We don't live far away, we can see each other on weekends, huh? I have friends who live in the same city but only see their partners on weekends because of their weekly demands. I want to try. It doesn't make sense in my head if I don't even try this out. Even if we get hurt at the end, it feels like the right thing to do." Juliana looked into Valentina's eyes trying to see the same thing she was feeling. "Don't you want to try?"

"Now? More than anything." Valentina said and pulled Juliana again, connecting her lips and kissing her until they were both breathless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you want to follow me on twitter to read some portuguese nonsense its @baielas (:

**Author's Note:**

> here's the links of my other little jobs you can read them in this order cuz they complement each other
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/19776730 - After The Storm Comes The..  
https://archiveofourown.org/works/19471027 - The After Party  
https://archiveofourown.org/works/19403254 - Privacies
> 
> lets be friends on twitter if you want to follow me and read some portuguese nonsense, its @baielas


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